Happy Mother's Day to my other mom

I have 4 parents, 2 in CA, and 2 in PA. So this is my "Happy Mother's Day" to my other mom, in PA. This is my mom who has encouraged my artistic endeavors, comforted me through boyfriend break-ups, and the aftermath of my big surprise surgery.

Happy Mother's Day, Libby! I love you!

Sharon

Happy Mother's Day to my mom

As you know, I often talk about my "old hippies" in my blog posts, meaning my mom and step dad because they' re both abstract artists who lived on Haight/ Ashbury, the true epicenter of the turbulent 60's during that time.

What I failed to mention is a very long story about my separation from my mom and two of my three brothers for most of my childhood. The short version is I have 7 siblings--3 full brothers, a half sister, and 3 step sisters, with two dads and two moms.

When I was 6, my dad took us away from my mom in San Francisco, to live with his brother's family in Wisconsin. After a year, 2 of my brothers went to live with my mom and step dad.

After a year my dad came and got my eldest brother and me, and we moved to Philadelphia. He remarried. Since then, all contact was cut off with my mom and two brothers, so my brother and I went through a very sad and confusing number of years without seeing or talking with that part of my family, roughly 13 years.

After my first year of college in PA, when I was 19, I was finally able to spend the summer in CA for the first time with my mom, brothers, step dad, little sister and 3 step sisters. It was the greatest time of my life.

I spent many many years without my mom and brothers and dreamed about them constantly. There was really no adult to turn too.

Directly after graduation from Penn State, I moved to Northern Ca to be with my long lost family.

So when my step dad very recently dug out these old pictures of my mom in her 30's (I was about 11 at the time) and scanned them, I was thrilled, since they are "missing pieces" of my life which I now find tangible in the way of a photograph.

Today is Mother's Day and though we often argue because we are so alike, I want my mom to know how much I love and cherish her, and treasure the fact that I can see her every day now, with no more wondering where she is and what she is doing.

Happy Mother's Day, Mama. I love you.

Sharon