Mother's Day

 

Today is Mother's Day. May 8, 2022. A day to celebrate moms of all kinds and mother figures everywhere. It may be a Hallmark holiday but it is still a day worthy of celebration. To celebrate women. All women really.

Today I think about my family. 

I think about my great-grandmother who went to college in Armenia. My great-grandmother who was supposed to study medicine in the United States but followed love instead. My great-grandmother who walked out her front door and threw her keys in the bushes only to walk hundreds of miles, hearing cannons, with her husband, baby and young daughter.  A family literally fleeing for their lives in the middle of a genocide. My great-grandfather who was listed to be killed because he was a professor and a band leader. An intellectual. A great-grandmother who had to bury her baby weeks later in Russia before taking a passenger ship from Georgia to the United States to start over. But alive and as a family.  

I think about my grandmother who came to the United States and did not know one word of English when she started Kindergarten. I think about my grandmother who went to college and sat on stage with a dozen other female graduates from Cooper Union. I think about my grandmother who was a gifted artist. I think about my grandmother walking in New York City with her portfolio in the 1930s looking for a job as a commercial artist. And, getting one. I think about my grandmother who was the breadwinner in the family until she stopped work to start her family. I think about my grandmother who loved her family fiercely until the day she died. Everything she did was for her family. My anoush-pan.

I think about my mom who grew up with a scientist and an artist as parents and with the weight of Armenian history. I think about my mom who went to college in Pennsylvania, married my father and started her own family. I think about my mom who taught her children that family is the most important thing in the world. Above everything else. I think about my mom who taught me that kindness will always prevail and what being truly selfless and truly good looks like. I think about my mom who taught by example that it is better to give than to receive. My mom who taught me more lessons than I can ever express with words and who makes the world a better place just by being here. My mom who does not know how special she is and in the end, all she really wants is to be surrounded by loved ones.

Always. 

Always.

Each family has a story. Each story is valuable. Each and every one.

Choose kindness. Every gesture counts. Peace and love always.