Happy Mother’s Day to my children 4


Happy Mother’s Day, Amber & Cy.



Without you, there would be no Mother’s Day for me.
You are the biggest accomplishments of my life.


I am so proud of the woman and man you’ve grown to be.
I have had such fun being your mother.  I was ages 23 and 25 when I had you; this turns out to have been the right time in my life to be a mother.  We grew up together.

As a young mother, I had the energy and time to:



  • chase you around,
  • build snowmen, and sandcastles,
  • plant flowers,
  • play dress-up,
  • make tents under the dining room table,
  • go apple picking

and so many other fun things.

My #1 responsibility at that time was to be your mother.


Do you remember my reading books to you during our commute home on the train and our weekly visits to the Children’s Museum on Friday nights?  Remember the Middle Passage Program at The Commonwealth School where I worked on Saturdays?  Not only did you participate in that program (before you were old enough), we used to go to the movies at Copley nearly every week after the program ended.  The matinee was perfect for my budget and perfectly timed for us to slip in a lunch (usually “brown-bagged”) before the afternoon movie started.  We schlepped through rain and snow to Back Bay as Middle Passage ran from fall into spring.


Do you remember: The Puppet Showplace and Children’s Book Shop in Brookline?  Wheelock Family Theater productions? Kite Day in Franklin Park? The Mapparium at The First Church of Christ Scientist and the John Hancock Observatory?  How about Houghton’s Pond and the Black Picnic at Salem Willows? (Although these last two were mostly shared with you and your Dad.)


Do you remember that I always fixed you a hot breakfast and that you never had cold cereal until you got to be teenagers and wanted it?


Do you remember the time as a teenager (Amber) or young man (Cy) when you weren’t feeling me?”  Well, guess what, I wasn’t feeling you either, but I loved you and parented you strong, holding on through your ups and downs.  I prayed a lot that you stay safe through your foibles, growing pains, mistakes and misadventures. 


You truly have completed me.  Now that you are fully launched and firmly independent, positive adults, I find so much to admire about you.  I learn from you about culture, technology, news, the importance of volunteering, info about the family tree, about how to pursue dreams, and handle money. (Although I’m fully expecting you to take care of me in my old age,.lol.)


I am proud that you are both college graduates but I am more proud that you are wonderful human beings who are giving the world a bit of wonderfulness every day by the way you live.  I stand in awe of the small…okay…large part I played in bringing you into being.  I apologize for mistakes I made along the way.  I hope I said and showed you love every single day.


Thank you, thank you, thank you or making me the proud mother of a daughter and a son. 


Happy Mother’s Day to you.  Happy Mother’s Day, you two.


 


About Candelaria Silva

Candelaria Silva-Collins is a marketing, community outreach and programming consultant; writer; and trainer/facilitator who lives in Boston, Massachusetts. She has designed and facilitated workshops on a wide variety of topics including communication, facilitation, job search skills, team building, and parenting issues. She currently coordinates the Community Membership Program of the Huntington Theatre Company. Her work as Director of ACT Roxbury was profiled in several publications, including The Creative Communities Builders Handbook. Candelaria’s children’s stories, short stories, essays and reviews have been published in local and national publications and she is an active blogger. Her publications include the booklets, Handling Rejection; Pushing through Shyness: Networking Tips when You’re Shy, Slow to Warm Up or Just don’t Feel you Belong; and Real Questions about Sex & Relationships for Teens: A Discussion Guide for Parents. She has served on the boards of Goddard College, Wheelock Family Theatre, Boston Foundation for Architecture, and Discover Roxbury. She is currently Chair, Designators of the Henderson Foundation.

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