“Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.”
Nikolaus von Jacquin in Mozart: A Life (1966) pg. 312
Well, now we know where the song came from:)
This quote has nice timing, since today is when we all pay homage to our mothers, those still with us and those long gone.
Something about mothers … I’ve stared at this screen for a long time. Today’s post is going to be a little different.
My mother was loving, but closed off. I guess losing two of four children in birth or soon after will do that to a person. She always seemed fearful of the world and I endured countless lectures about “what could happen“. Of course I ignored them, repeatedly put myself in truly dangerous situations, and probably drove my mother crazy with worry.
Then I had children and learned a little about the complexities of being a parent. My mother became more of a real person to me. I watched my wife mother our children, not perfectly but with pure love motivating her. When my daughters grew up and became mothers themselves, I started to really see the eternal cycle of motherhood and how it changes everyone.
So my mother wasn’t perfect … and neither was/am I. We both did the best we could with what we had. I was with my mother constantly at the end of her life, up to the moment she took her last breath. Small payback compared to what she did for me and what she gave up for me.
This is not the traditional Mother’s Day ode, but it’s what I have to offer. I appreciate what my mother meant to me and how she shaped my life. I don’t approach everything the way she did, but I can only hope that my life honors her.
So Happy Mother’s Day, Mom … oh, and thanks for all the love:)
Feeling just a tad like a little boy who misses his mother in the Heartland ….
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