Reflections on Life by Sylvia

Several years ago (2004 to be exact) I came up with the idea of interviewing my mom and hearing what her life was like when she was growing up. I had planned on doing a family history years before this with my mother's sisters and never did. Now many of those stories have disappeared because two of my aunts have died. I also wanted an understanding of my dad's side of the family, however, he cannot give me that information. So, Mom and I started on a warm afternoon in July, 2004. The stories were great. There were some that I knew, like how she and Grandma, Aunt Lil, Aunt Helen and Mom used to make flowers out of material that had to be formed by petal, then fastened together into flowers and finally attached to the back of vanity, hand held mirrors. They got paid by the piece for this work. Money was extremely tight and food was scarce.

Well, the project went on hold for 3 years, until yesterday! Earlier in the week I received an email from my cousin Shelly; she is Billy and Marilyn Wallach's younger daughter. She is in the process of putting together a book about mothers and daughters. Here is what she had to say: "...it occurred to me I really knew very little about her. I thought about what her favorite color was and I didn’t know. I didn’t know much about her childhood, her relationship with her mother, her siblings, who were her friends, did she have a boyfriend in high school, how she felt about her life, and so on.

I live in a community of women close to my age..mostly in the baby boomer generation whose mothers, if they’re still alive, are elderly. Most of them said they too knew very little about their mothers. I decided to write a book..a sort of resource guide to spark women to talk to their moms before they run out of time. I sent out a survey (I’m going to forward one to you) and got so many responses. I couldn't’t believe how many people sent back things they wanted to know about their mothers. The idea took on a life of its own"

Doesn't this sound fascinating and I appreciated that it got me back into the conversation with Mom. It is so amazing, we live this life as if the people we know and love will be here forever and that's not how it works. So, last night we continued the conversation we started in 2004. The stories were as wonderful as ever. When David came home he participated as well. We all had such a wonderful time. I taped Mom as she spoke so now I have to transcribe what we talked about.

So, I told you about the piece work, I'll give you some more stories as I get them written up. Now it would be fun to have Aunt Shirley and Mom together and see if they remember things differently! Also, I have to corner Uncle Paul the next time he comes to visit so we can get some of that Plotkin/Barkon history on paper as well!