Memories of My Mother

I have some great memories of my mother. Even though she died in 1997, it seems like she is still here with me all the time. My mother died at the age of 76 from breast cancer. She had been a widow for 27 years since my father died. She was there for my graduations, my wedding, the birth of my two children, and their communions.

My mother celebrated life and family. She did not have many friends and she did not drive. Her home was her haven. She was Italian and the most important thing in her life was her family. The way she kept her family together was through her cooking. She was an amazing cook. The most vivid memories I have of her were going to the Italian pork store or going to the supermarket. I would have to drive her there, and usually stayed with her to shop. Sometimes it would take hours, since she liked to look at everything and take her time.

Holidays were an all-day feast of cooking and eating. My mother had all the holidays at her house up until she got sick. It would take about a week to prepare everything for the big day. Certain vegetables had to be bought close enough to the holiday so they wouldn't get over-ripe. Baking was done during the week before. There would be trips to different stores to get certain foods needed.

The holiday meal was a cornucopia of everything from antipasto to dessert. For example, Thanksgiving did not start with the turkey. It started with cold antipasto, some pepperoni breads; and then either lasagna or manicotti with meatballs, sausage and brasciole. By the time the turkey came out, we were already stuffed. The turkey was followed by an assortment of vegetables such as marinated green beans, mushrooms, stuffed artichokes, potatoes, etc.

Dessert was the best. There was cream puffs, Italian pastries, cookies, chocolate candies, cake.
My mother would sit there at the end of the day totally exhausted, but you could see how happy she was to have her 3 children, 6 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren celebrating with her. This meant everything to her.