May 11, 2013

Happy Mother’s Day

1941
1941
Happy Mother's Day to all my friends and family who are lucky enough to be a mother or to still have one.
I'm a lot of things because of my mom, but the biggest gift she gave me was a love of reading. I’m a writer because first, I was a reader.
My sister taught me to read when I was four (she was six) and Mom took us right over to get our library cards. I hardly remember a time I didn’t have a library card. And in those days, before predators lurked on every corner, we could walk to the library by ourselves, even though it was four or five blocks away. My sister read all the Nancy Drews, I read all the Bobbsey Twins.
1942
1942
1945
1945
1943
1943
1957
1957

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Mrs. Oscar Hoffman   Mar. 14, 1945
I wish I'd kept more of my mother’s books - the only one I still have is her copy of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It has her handwriting on the flyleaf. And the date. She dated everything, so I'm never left guessing when pictures were taken or when I gave her a particular gift or what year my dad gave her an orchid for their anniversary (she dried them every year and saved them in envelopes).    gift2
gift




I made this little box for my mom for her birthday in 1980.
I know that because she wrote the date on the back.
And underneath she wrote, Ida Hoffman. That’s my mom.

2 comments:

Scarletgrey said...

So cool! Yes it is good she dated everything. We would make fun of her. And she always remembered what she was wearing when we would talk about an occasion! Remember Dad would say "and what were you wearing?" Lol

Samantha Hoffman said...

That's so funny - I forgot about that. Here's what's really funny: I always remember what I was wearing.