Feliz Día de Madre

Today is Mother's Day in the U.S. Here in Panamá, our official Mother's Day is December 8 (The Feast of the Immaculate Conception), but folks who lived in the Canal Zone (back in the day) also celebrate U.S. Mother's Day. In Costa Rica they celebrate Mother's Day in August. When we came to Panamá in 1999, Mona celebrated Mother's Day three times: May in the U.S., August in Costa Rica (We were at a language school in San José that month), and December in Panamá. This year she's celebrating in Boston with our daughter Anne (this is the First Mother's Day as mother's for both Tara and Anne). Mona is not my mother so I'm not going to worry about her Mother's Day! I ignored our first U.S. Mother's Day here in Panamá (well, I did call my mom!) and while I was standing at the door of the church saying "good'bye" to everyone, a woman asked me why I didn't acknowledge Mother's Day. I told her that I thought Mother's Day was in December in Panamá. She told me in no uncertain terms that the Ladies of St. Christopher's celebrate BOTH Mother's Days, so I don't forget anymore! Tomorrow I'll celebrate Mother's Day by participating in a program put on by the Choir Guild of St. Christopher's. Reynaldo Taylor, Bernie Murray, Ricardo Staples and I are the Featured Performers at this program. I'll try to get someone to take photos with my camera and post them when I get home.

My mother lives in Sonora, California, with my father. They are members of St. James' Episcopal (for now) Church in the Diocese of San Joaquin. Mona and I love the folks at St. James' and their rector, the Rev. Wolfgang Krismanits, and deacon the Rev. Mary Swann. They are very supportive of our mission, both in the spiritual and financial sense, and we are grateful for their support. We may differ on some issues, but this has not been a problem for us because we know that they love Christ and they know that we love Christ. My mom is a missionary's kid; her parents were missionaries with the Assemblies of God in China (where she was born) and in the Philippine Islands (where the family was interned by the Japanese during World War II). She and my father were confirmed in the Episcopal (for now) Church a couple of years ago. Her name is Constance, which is also a good description of her character. She is a ball of fire and very opinionated (so now you know where that comes from) and I love her. She has a great sense of humour and laughs at all my jokes. As a child I enjoyed waiting until she was drinking something before I would deliver some zinger, and I was never disappointed (Did I ever tell you about the time my joke made my brother pass an entire cheese sandwich through his nose?). She and Dad have a dial-up connection, so they don't read the Dance Party (a thought which is scarier than Grandmère Mimi's Rector reading her blog) so she will only see this when I send it to her. ¡Feliz Día de Madre, Mamá!

I call her every year and sing this song I learned from Madeline Kahn on Saturday Night Live many, many, years ago (you know, back when the show was good!)

M is for the Many things she gave me...
O is for the Other things she gave me...
T is for the Thousand things she gave me...
H is for the Hundred things she gave me...
E is for Everything she gave me...
R is for the Rest of the things she gave me...
Put them all together, they spell MOTHER
The one who means the world to me!!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, TO ALL MOTHERS.