Sunday, May 14, 2017

Mother's Day

Pabu always sat under Ellie's chair whenever she sat at table. Here is his favorite chair that fit him perfectly. He is not asking for special handouts since the food that day was a lobster salad at a shower for Olivia's birth before she was born and whose birthday is today. "Underwater insects - ick! he'd say to that food.
Ellie would sometimes say Pabu was the son she never had but she always treated him like a dog, never a human. She had raised a companion dog when she was a child and another when her own children were young. She loved fixing them special meals like poached salmon and baby food rice when puppies. She certainly knew what dogs like to do and what they don't like. She knew he usually liked to be right next to her but sometimes he'd like to stretch out in a sunny place in another room or outside. She learned how to be a mother by raising her own two younger sisters when she discovered her own mother had as she often said, "Not a single maternal bone in her body!" That sounds harsh but it was true. Ellie happily fixed their food, clothes, and cared for them as a normal mother would.
Here she is with her youngest sister Frannie at the home of her Aunt Lou and Uncle Frank Mates where she learned herself what real parental love was. I see in this photo again her soft hands as she rests them on Frannie's shoulders. Ellie said about this picture it showed how much she really was a mother to Frannie. For Mother's Day 2017, here is Ellie with her two granddaughters: my sister and me. She was always happiest at home with family and a child in her lap or next to her who wanted to be there. The day Pabu died I got a fortune cookie which said, "You are guided by silent love and friendship around you." I think that is what Ellie and Pabu, too, always showed me and the world as well.
Happy Mother's Day all!