News I will never get tired of sharing this photo (to your right in print, above if you’re reading online).
Mostly because there is no chance anyone, before or since, has ever rocked cutoff jorts in such stylish fashion.
I mean, c’mon. Sure, there’s some fancy Alberta scenery in the background. But those brown runners and socks? Tank top? Belt with the shorts? Lego figure hairpiece?
If Instagram existed back in the day, I’d have surely been a bigtime influencer.
Jocularity aside, I love this picture for a lot of reasons, especially this time of year.
It makes me back to a more innocent time, travelling the country with the family and creating memories to last a lifetime. (Anyone else have albums full of shots but only a few with Dad, since he was always behind the camera?)
I’m especially grateful for those memories each May. Mother’s Day this year is Sunday, May 8.
It’s always a bittersweet day. You still celebrate all the other wonderful mothers still with us and around us every day. But there will always be someone missing, in person anyway.
And that someone is why I love to share and reshare that photo, others like it and my favourite stories, like the ones below.
The lady in in the photo is my Mum.
We lost her when she was just 44, to cancer.
Not a day goes by I don’t think about her. Not a day will ever go by that I don’t think about her.
And on Mother’s Day, those thoughts are ever-present and it’s both melancholic and joyful, since different memories always crop up.
Mum was the biggest influence on my life, the most amazing, giving woman who ever lived.
The lessons she taught me live on and have been passed down to her grandchildren, the ones she never got to meet but I know she sees every day.
She’s also the reason I still feel mild guilt every time I buy Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal instead of Shreddies.
READ MORE: Vancouver Island floral experts get you ready for Mother’s Day
We were really just kids when she passed, so I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to fully process the notion she’s gone. I’ll always wish I let her know more often how much I appreciated the sacrifices she made. I’ll always wish she was able to hug her grandkids, just once.
But the memories last forever. If I ever had one piece of advice to share with anyone and everyone, it’s to make memories, always.
Along those lines, I’d love to hear some of your own memories. Sunday is Mother’s Day. Let me know about your favourite Mum (Mom, Ma, Mother, Mommy, Mama, Grandma, Nana) memories. Whether she has passed on or is still here with us, I want to know why the moms in your life are so special.
Send along your memories and even your old photos. You can email them to me or post them on our Facebook page.
I’ll piece together some of the responses and reshare them again.
Let’s all celebrate together and let these amazing women know how much they are loved and admired.
Vancouver Island Free Daily/PQB News editor Philip Wolf welcomes your questions, comments and story ideas. He can be reached at 250-905-0029, via email at philip.wolf@blackpress.ca or on Twitter @philipwolf13.