Saturday, March 28, 2015
My mom was a tiny, five-foot nothing of a woman, but she wore some awfully big shoes.
She moved to Long Beach, California from her rural family home in Oregon in the 50's. Because I was ill, she left everyone and everything she knew to better my chances of survival. Happily, she loved it, the ocean, the culture, the opportunity. It must have seemed huge to her. She went after life like it was an oyster from the ocean she loved, and she was determined to pry a pearl out of it. She was fierce and fearless.
I don't remember a time in my childhood when she didn't go to school. She had ambition, an insatiable appetite for information, an unquenchable curiosity and a penchant for personal perfection that she never outgrew. She never sat idle, never.
She was one of the few women in our neighborhood who worked outside the home, or drove for that matter. Though her mother had managed to instill ladylike manners, she had been raised to be her father's son. My mother disdained playing the role of the feminine ideal of the day. She earned just enough to pay a housekeeper.
In the early 70's my mother stepped into an emerging world, and carved her name into it's foundations, like a child in new cement. She was fascinated with the field, and as a young grandmother, helped blaze new trails in the business world. Several major companies in the Los Angeles area owe their original operating systems to her skills.
I never really understood her profession. Truthfully, I wondered what qualities she possessed that allowed her to traverse the shark infested executive environment in a city like Los Angeles, without losing a limb. It was almost scary to think about, but she thrived, unscathed. I dubbed her a corporate "wizard". She could make things happen, and no one quite knew how.
She moved to Arizona as a new century was born. Retirement did not suit her, and she went to work for what is now the Aquarius Casino in Laughlin. She fell in love once again in her professional life. There are no words for the acceptance, support and concern that she received from her colleagues at the Aquarius. Her work was her life, and the people she worked with are amazing. She was so honored as she was shown time and again that her life was important to them. Nothing on this earth could have given her greater personal satisfaction than to have her efforts recognized by her coworkers. The people at the Aquarius did so much more. During the darkest time in our lives, the brightest moments that pushed the dark back came from the love shown by all of them.
It would be ungrateful to mourn too much. My mother's life was blessed in so many ways, loving family, friends, the chance to say goodbye to both at the end of an incredible life. Our lives were blessed to have her. She used the time she was given to live fully, according to her terms. She gave her all to anything she touched. She won't be soon forgotten.
She left her big shoes, but the worn out pearl was hers to keep.
