Dreams and Mom

Dreams and Mom

Recently I had a dream about my mom. She had decorated the house for Christmas—this was a hard task because she was “getting on in years” and it must have been difficult for her. When I told her I wished she had asked for help, she merely smiled and said she was glad to do it.

Then I found a quote in a Neil Steinberg column in the Chicago Sun-Times. He was doing a review of the recent biography Losing Mum and Pup, written by accomplished humorist writer Christopher Buckley about his famous parents, William F. Buckley and Patricia Taylor Buckley. The quote reads: “Our parents help us, then we help them. We begin as their dream, the poet said, then they become ours.”[1]

Mom would be 91 this coming June 14. She’s been gone nearly sixteen years, and I still miss her. We used to joke about people putting out their American flags on Flag Day, her birthday. This year on her birthday, I think I’ll lower my flag to half-staff for a moment and say a prayer of thanksgiving for my mother.
[1] Neil Steinberg, Chicago Sun-Times, May 18, 2009, page 22.