………………I was and will always be my Mother’s baby…………I was the baby of three boys. There was a large gap in years between me and my middle brother John. My mother had a still born baby between us. It was full term, a girl and my mother named her Grace. My parents waited a few years and then I was born. I always felt like an only child growing up, because my brothers were so much older, and they didn’t want their baby brother tagging along……..My mother and I were very close. She was much closer to me than my brothers. That’s just the way it was, and it’s not that I was her baby….We had the same heart, the same mind, we appreciated the same things and we shared….She had a great influence on me………I think as children we forget that our parents had lives before we came into this world that had nothing to do with us. They had lives that had nothing to do with their eventual spouses. My mother’s name was Lorita, a beautiful exotic name, but everyone called her Edith. She was a RED head with soft brown eyes….a beautiful woman…. She was known as “carrot top”. A movie producer friend of hers, who gave her the name carrot top, wanted her to go to Hollywood, but that wasn’t for her….My mother laughingly told me when I was born at the age of 42, her red hair turned white!…..My mother and I would sit and talk about her life as a young child living in the village of NYC. We would look through her boxes of photographs, which I still have. She and her family lived on Thompson Street. On hot summer days she and her friends would go swimming in the fountain in Washington Square. She knew my father and his family from childhood. Their families came from the same city in Italy, Bari. We talked about her schooling as a teenager and her young adult life. My mother was a very independent woman, and had a full life with many experiences before she married my father at the age of 28, which in those days was considered old! She loved to go dancing, and she and her older brother Tom [a rake] entered many dance contests. When they won Tom would take the money and my mother would get the trophy! She worked in NYC for a high end dress company. She was a seamstress, a really good one, which would come in very handy when I had to sew my Parsons school projects!!! During market week her boss paid her extra to model for the buyers…She had great style and GREAT LEGS!!! She only wore pencil skirts and in her nineties would say to me, “I still have good legs!”, and she did….flawless! She told me about her girl friends, some pictured above, and about her boyfriends. She only kept photos of one of her boyfriends, I guess for her own reasons. This one boyfriend she did tell me about. The “Bonnie and Clyde” photo second in from the bottom left shows my mother on top of the car playing with her BBF’s hair. Her boyfriend is sitting to the far left. She told me he was very handsome, dark blond hair and blue eyes, and that she almost married him. I asked her why she didn’t. She told me she saw he had a mean streak, and she thought what would he be like to her and the children they might have if they married, so she wisely broke it off…..GOOD FOR ME!!!!…..My father was definitely the aggressor in the relationship and chased her. Sometimes he would take his mother and my mother’s mom on rides in his big black Packard just so she would come along….He was pretty crafty! Eventually he won her over, and they were married for 76 years…….My mother was my champion, and loved me unconditionally. She supported me with anything I wanted. If you asked my brothers they would say she spoiled me, and I guess in her way she did. We had a bond and an understanding that my brothers could never have with her. When she passed at the age of 94 I was crushed. It was the first time in my life that I lost someone that meant so much to me. I was shaken to the core and my heart was broken. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t speak to her and look at her pictures that are all around the house……..Some say she had a long, and beautiful life…..for me she was gone too soon……………..Happy Mother’s Day to all of you!
What lovely posts about your Mom and Jac’s Mom … beautiful photos, wonderful memories. I’m sure they both loved you every bit as much as you loved them. Thank You for sharing 🙂
Louis,
It’s no wonder Jac loved you. A man who respects, loves and stays close to his Mom is rare. So too is the fact that you understood Jac’s love and devotion to her Mom. My husband was very close to his Mom and I thought he would be a good husband because of his bond with her. After 55 years of marriage, I can state unequivocally that I was right.
What a lovely tribute to your mother! As a mother of four sons, I understand about the boys leaving to be with their wives’ families, though none of mine are married yet. The loss of your sister indeed must have been a hard time. You were lucky that your mom could help you with the sewing for Parsons! I am a bit of a sewer and tried clothing in the past, but you must be perfect for pieces to turn out right. I stick more to curtains….straight lines are easier. My three sons at home surprised me with a tea and then we went out for dinner later. I threw on your navy blazer over the bisque WK polo sweater and the beige pearls that went with the lace shirts. Love and hugs Louis!
Such beautiful words about your mother! I, too, have photos of my mother in life before marriage and my birth. My mother made nearly all my clothes until she went back to work when I was thirteen. And I had our daughter at age 42, eight years after her brother and after two miscarriages, so she is very special to me and is my mini-me (not that I don’t love her brother). Those of us who had such mothers were blessed indeed!
My mother always wanted a daughter. She always said “your sons leave and they go with their wives families, but a daughter always stays with her mother”. I guess in the majority of cases this is true. My mother’s loss of her daughter hit here hard… especially since the baby was full term. It seems the baby was strangled by the umbilical cord. A very rare thing, but something that did happen.
Louis, it’s a cold and rainy day here in Denver. I felt like a queen today going out to dinner in my whisper knit ensemble from last fall with the plum big deal cardigan, midi skirt, turtle neck, Fez medallion, triple necklace and matching bracelets in plum along with your cozy beautiful knee highs. It was great to go out for a nice meal again. I’m enjoying playing watch the pricing game on QVC where I have a number of remaining items in my wish list from you. Today I put in my cart the inset lace blouse and yesterday the black lunchtime special black poly blouse. Even though I’m retired now, I love looking beautiful in your fabulous clothing. Thank you for your beautiful designs and your lovely blog. Cindy
Louis, Two beautiful tributes to remarkable women and because of your Mother and her love and devotion certainly contributed to the wonderful, kind compassionate man you are today.
I believe there is no great love than a Mother’s.
Louis, what lovely and heartfelt tributes to both your mother and your mother-in-law. Thank you for sharing.
Dear Louis,
I have grown to understand the spiritual bond you had with your dear mother more and more as you have continued to describe who she was and how she affected you. Your bond with your mother is similar to my bond with my dear father. You know — you sense — when you have a similar spirit or soul with someone. It becomes apparent as you mature and you acknowledge it for the beautiful thing it is. I was born when my father was 43. My mother was 17 years younger than my father.
Mr. Goldie’s spirit is alive in my house because of my insistence that certain memorabilia remain. I understand this sort of love that profoundly misses the one who has passed. May God rest all the souls of those who have passed and bless you always.
What lovingly written tributes! Thank you so much for sharing your stories of these beloved women!
Happy Mother’s Day to your two Mom’s, Louis!
The water in flowing in the Washington Square Park fountain.
There are two parishes close to where your Mom lived, St. Anthony’s of Padua off Houston Street and Our Lady of Pompeii off Bleecker. Both “Italian” churches. Do you know which one your mother would have attended?
Enjoy the day, Elaine
Elaine, I have no idea…..they moved to the country when she was still young……BROOKLYN!
Louis, I’m laughing, my Dad’s family moved to the country too when he was overseas….QUEENS!