Laura Haley-McNeil

5/12/19, Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother’s Day, Everyone!

If you are a mother, my hat is off to you who’ve undertaken the noblest profession in the world!  I hope you do have a Happy Mother’s Day and that you spend the day with those you love.

Mother’s Day

On this day, I think of my own mother and how hard she worked to provide us with a wonderful life. She came from a modest background and worked several jobs so she could attend college. She worked some amazing jobs.

My Mother’s Exciting Life

After graduating high school, she moved to San Francisco and lived with her sister and brother-in-law to attend college. My mother and her brother-in-law worked in the shipyards and she worked as, you guessed it, a riveter. She was very tiny and fit in all the tight places that needed rivets. She also worked as a hostess to a world summit and met Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Charles de Gaulle. When she told me this, I was dumbstruck. She was 19 yo and knew it was an important job, but didn’t consider what this job as being exceptional. Even after she told me she still didn’t understand why I was so impressed.

One of her brothers owned a plane and taught her to fly. She had wanted to be a WASP but was told she was too short, so she became a stewardess. They weren’t called flight attendants in those days.

She met my father on a blind date. He worked in Venezuela at the time and had come home to visit.

Motherhood Changes Lives

Though marriage changed her life, she went from a carefree career woman to the mother of six, her joy and love of life never changed. She had lots of energy and constantly created projects to entertain us. She was an artist and taught us to draw and paint though none of us was as talented as she. My father traveled a lot so on weekends, she took us on excursions, to museums, the zoo, and on hikes. She loved to explore and made sure we were exposed to different activities and events. We were the center of her life. We were very lucky.

A Special Day for You

I hope this day is special whether you spend it with your mother, your children, both, or have memories. Or maybe you have someone special in your life who was like a mother to you. Relationships are important, and I hope you have that.

Have a wonderful and blessed day, and I wish you joy and peace in the week ahead!

Love,

Laura