A Tribute to Mom

 

 

                 I’ve already planned the dedication for my first published novel.  I want it to say: “Others saw a dream.  Mom saw a reality.”

             My mom knew I would be a writer before anyone else, including me.  She saved elementary school stories and the notebook that contained my fourth-grade masterpiece “The Story of the Fairy Princesses.”  She wasn’t surprised when I announced my career choice a few years later, and while others touted their children’s sports activities in the annual family newsletter exchange, her first comment about me was usually, “Danielle is my aspiring author.”

             She did everything she could to encourage me on my chosen path.  When writers-in-residency visited our school, Mom invited them to stay at our house.  She sent me to a young writers’ summer camp for three consecutive years, and never once did I learn how much money she paid or what kind of sacrifices she might have made to get me there.

             Sometimes she was more active in promoting my literary efforts than I was.  She talked me into submitting an essay to the high school newspaper and then talked me into requesting a place on the staff, a position that eventually led to editor.

             I’ve heard others say that having your mother read your writing is of no value because whether it’s good or bad, she will love it.  They were right.  My mom did love everything I wrote.  When my early submissions were returned with generic rejection forms, Mom railed at the stupidity of editors who didn’t know a good thing when they saw one.  But I disagree that this was of no value.  Mom’s unconditional support gifted me with self-confidence and the persistence to keep trying, if only to prove her right.

             My mom died in 2000, a week before Mother’s Day.  She’ll never read this essay or the novel dedicated to her.

             But she’ll know.  Even though that novel isn’t published yet, she’s already seen it.¤

 

 

 

 

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