In the movie Waking Ned Devine, there’s a scene with the character Jackie O’Shea (played by Iain Bannen) addressing a funeral. O’Shea is interrupted by a lottery official whom he is trying to defraud. Without missing a beat, Jackie launches into an extemporaneous eulogy, ostensibly for his lifelong friend Michael O’Sullivan (played by David Kelly) […]
To My Mom, With Love
My sisters and I have this unofficial competition going. We like to see who can make mom cry on holidays. Christmas, birthdays, Mother’s Day. Anything that involves a card. We’re not mean people. Really. It’s a badge of honour if we are able to express ourselves in a card in such a way that turns […]
Don’t Go Hungry
My mother never gave advice or preached. She simply taught us certain values by her actions, and one of those actions was to never let anyone go hungry.
Mother Never Told You: Love Hurts
I’ve been a mother since before I was even an adult, having had my first child at 17. It’s been an interesting ride, to say the least. I’ve learned some things about motherhood in the 36 years since then. Three kids, two stepkids and five grandsons will do that to you. What strikes me so […]
I Don’t Know What I’d Do Without You
When I hear the usual mother-in-law jokes and put downs, I can’t help but think about how different it is for me. On this Mother’s Day, I’d like to nominate my mother-in-law Louise Fuoco as the woman I most admire.
Seeing Her Influence: Mother’s Day Musings
I count myself among the women my age lucky enough to still have their mother alive. Her name is Mary and she lives in the house I grew up in on Pine Ave. When I look at who I am and how I got here I can see her influence. I remember the rules of […]
A New Perspective: A Father’s View of Motherhood
It’s strange, but becoming a father has given me a new perspective on motherhood. In all of the families I saw in my young life — all of the ones I really knew well, anyway — it was always the mother that was the central figure of the family. My mother’s mother, sitting at the […]
A Fistful of Dandelions
“She’s not my mother, you know,” my father would declare every Mother’s Day, in his best Archie Bunker voice, when I asked him why he hadn’t even given Mum a card. “But she should be acknowledged by the man who made her a mother,” I’d answer. Of course he was only pretending to sound like […]
Fictional Mothers and their Famous Offspring, from Supermen to Monsters
There are some strong mother figures in popular novels, poetry, films, and mythology who are celebrated or justly maligned. Some are inspirational, and others provoke the utmost terror. And some are unsung, yet play an important part in the stories of some of the most iconic characters of our time.
Watching Him Go
“They’re here, they’re here,” squeals Mr. Three because I’m Three. My second set of parents, Helen and Barry Roome, pull up in their white mini van. My son runs to get his gear and starts to put on his shoes, chatting wildly about trains, planes and automobiles as he does so. Once I found the […]