Yeah, that’s mom – formerly Mary Ann Rhodes and way before that, Mary Ann Mills of Olathe, Colorado.
She left us all to fend for ourselves back in 1993 – geez I’m feeling old today, because I can’t believe that many years have passed. She was only 59 – soon to be 60 – and my 50th is coming up next month.
She was born in 1933, and never did grasp technology very well. This little blog post tribute would elude her. I’m sure that were she still around I’d have to phone her up and tell her how to find it on her Web TV or something. She actually had a VCR but programming it was out of the question. “David,” she’d ask, “how do I rewind this so I can watch it?”
“Mom, that’d be the rewind button.. right there.” I’d show her with the hope that she’d remember for next time. Mostly she was trying to rewind while the tape was still playing. “Mom, you have to stop it first, THEN rewind.” She’d tell me how complicated that was.
She was a good woman. She was very long-suffering, having cared for two husbands and her younger brother through excruciating terminal illnesses until they passed on. She put up with a lot of crap from me in my youth – a lot of which I wish I could take back and do differently, but I guess somehow it’ll all be made right. She put up with goofy, greedy relatives and mean people, con-artists who bilked her out of investments and two-faced neighbors who used her good graces for their own gain.
With friend Iona Volkman, about 1972
She had her share of difficult times but always managed to keep her head up and smile. I miss those dinners she’d make when I came around, and the occasional long talk about life and what it all means. She could be deep, and sometimes I think I was the only one who knew that. She never tried to prove anything to other people, and always met them at their level because she wanted them to be comfortable around her. They were, sometimes too much. She never let on how smart she really was.
She was the most conservative bohemian I ever knew.
I wish I could give her more than this dumb little tribute on a blog for Mother’s Day. But knowing her as I do, I think that a very public “I love you, miss you and will never forget you” will suffice. She never wanted anything more, really, than to love, be loved and be content with what she had, which was never much.
She achieved that goal, especially the parts about loving and being loved.
Happy Mother’s Day, Mary Ann Kelly
I love you, miss you and will never forget you.
RIP 1933-1993
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
A wonderful tribute brought tears to my eyes but I am sure she is smiling down at you. I know mine is watching over me everyday with love and smiles
No doubt, Delores. Thank you.
lovely, you deliberate tear-mongerer
Lorna´s brilliant babbling..True confessions, picayune true confessions