Sightings on the Edge of the World: Mothers and Children

Today, February 18th, is my mother's birthday.  Had she lived 2 more years in this world, she would have been 78 years old, and I am sure worrying all of her children to no end.  Instead, I miss her with all my heart and soul, in a way that I never did when she was living.  Most of the time I held her at arm's length and sought to differentiate myself from her.  Since she's been gone, though, I have felt how alive she is in me, and welcomed all the similarities, even those I disdained previously.  Now I love her the way a mother loves a child.

One recent morning as I walked on the cliffs above the beach in Del Mar, California, I walked past a mother and daughter in a perfect tableau:  The mother sitting on a bench facing the ocean, her small toddler age daughter sitting on her thighs, the two gazing in each other's eyes in perfect joy and contentment.

I remembered times when my mother looked at me that way, and I longed to return her gaze full on, like that little one did, and then for the two of us to sit side by side and look out at the ocean together, enjoying the clean, crisp, sweet morning air; the glowing pastel blues and pinks and yellows of the early morning sky; the roar of the ocean coming in and flowing out.

Here are a few photos to honor my mother, Gale Louise Beyette.

Mom and I

 Mom and Kimberly

 Mom and Sharlon

 Mom with Trevon on her lap, me, Sharlon, and Kim at the Pollard's, my father's family home

 Mom with Leyette and Kayla

 Mom with Emily, Trevon's daughter

 Mom with Kayla and Aaron, Leyette's children

Mom with Kimberly and her children: Angelica on Kim's lap, Danielle by Mom, and Jared

Mom with Jared, Kimberly's son

 Mom, Kim, and Trevon at the Beyette's, mom's family home