I come from a line of mothers who were best friends with their daughters. I don't have a lot of family photos from my growing up years as they seemed to have been lost in a move. Hopefully I will be able to find them some day. I do have a collection of photos that my Mom, Goldie Rosen Hammerling, took back in the 40s and 50s. She was a great photographer who took and developed her own pictures and also knew how to look fabulous and glamorous in the ones taken of her.
My grandmother, Rebecca Rosen, was also very put together. She and my grandfather immigrated from Russia. My Mom was born in Indiana and grew up in Brooklyn. My Mom and Grandmother used to laugh and sit at the kitchen table and talk over coffee or the much rarer occasional glass of red wine.
My Mom and I also laughed a lot. She taught me to love books and film and theatre and museums and flea markets from the time I was very young. My parents were very cultured so I learned to love the city and still have great affection for NYC. When I brought home my first kitten from Gouz Farm, when I was 5, and hid it in the closet because I thought my parents wouldn't approve... she turned out to have been a secret cat lady without realizing it and loved cats the rest of her life.
Having my own daughter, the bestest daughter of all, was the best thing I've ever done! We have the best of times and I was able to share all the things I learned to love from my Mom. And things we shared together like the Gilmore Girls and bagels and lox and French fries, the perfect Mother's Day food!
Plus she gives the BEST Mother's day presents! I mean, who else would ever know to give me a lunch bag filled with images of Little My from our most favorite series the Moomin books by Tove Jansson? So, here's to Moms everywhere! Have a fabulous day! May it be filled with Moomins!
