by Noella Noelophile®
My mother always smelled of Arpege cologne. It was her favorite.
When company was coming, or for a special occasion, she’d always wear her pearls. They made her look especially pretty.
And I always hated to see her volunteer as “class mother”.
Why, given that she was an amazing mom?
Simply because, if there were a game or exercise for which she had to choose students to participate, I knew she wouldn’t pick me.
She didn’t want to “play favorites”.
But what I remember best about my mother, was one experience in autumn, 1967.
She’d gone to the bank and store on a routine errand. When she returned, she had a story to tell.
“I saw all this money blowing around on the street,” she said. “I thought it was play money. Then, I looked more closely and saw it was real money.”
The total sum of the cash blowing around the street? Around $200.
My mom said she’d gathered up the bills, with the help of a friend from church who happened by. Then, she went on to the bank–where she asked for her favorite teller.
“I think one of your depositors might have dropped this,” my mother said.
Hearing the story from my mom was no surprise. That was how she was. If your mother is a concert pianist, you’re used to hearing symphonies.
But the story doesn’t end there.
My mom had been home from the store for about an hour when the doorbell rang. When she answered it, an older gentleman stood on the front porch.
He had come to thank her.
“I cashed my pension check,” our visitor said. “I reached in my pocket for a handkerchief and must have pulled out the money. That’s my income for the next two weeks.”
He insisted on giving my mother a $10 reward, which she didn’t want to take. And about a week later, a letter came in the mail.
His daughter, a Catholic nun, had written my mother a beautiful note, thanking her for her kindness to her dad. My mother, of course, would never have thought of doing any differently.
“I don’t want what doesn’t belong to me,” she commented.
In this day when people make headlines for returning large sums of money they’ve found, I think about that experience a lot.
Thank you for your gift, Mom. Happy Mother’s Day, and I miss you.