My mother was born on this day 91 years ago in a one-story farm house with no running water in Rowan County, North Carolina. There was still an outhouse when I was a child and my great grandmother still lived there. A cousin lives there now and the outhouse is long gone.
This is a holy day and not just for me.
On this day when Mom celebrated her 22nd birthday, Emmett Till was tortured and murdered in a barn in Sunflower County, Mississippi.
On this day when Mom celebrated her 30th birthday, Dr. King preached his I Have a Dream speech at the Lincoln Memorial.
Long after Mom died, Chadwick Boseman died on this day in 2018.
On this day, a dear friend and colleague lost both of his parents decades apart – his mom when he was a child and his dad not so long ago. It comforted me to talk with him this morning.
On the elevator today, I saw a woman wearing a Peace sweatshirt. “Does your shirt stand for world peace or for Peace College?” I asked her. “I don’t know Peace College,” she said, “But you’re right, it does look like a college sweatshirt font.” “My Mom went to Peace College,” I said. “Today she would have been 91 years old.” (Note: I’m that person who brings up morbid factoids.)
“Cool,” the woman said. “Let’s call it a Peace College sweatshirt then.” Sometimes people are so kind.
Today is a holy day for me and for many of us. Tomorrow will be someone else’s special day. My sibs and I were trying to imagine what Mom would be like today if she were still alive. She would have 13 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren with two more expected soon. Maybe she could still play “Love is a Many Splendored Thing” on the piano by heart. Maybe she would have sewn simple dresses for her granddaughters. Maybe we would all be together today eating SNE’s poundcake.
I have no idea what the afterlife is about, but I love to imagine my mom with all the moms, and Chadwick Boseman with Emmett Till who’s been rejoined with Mamie since 2003, and Dr. King still praying regal words in his deep tenor voice. I love to imagine.
Image of the barn where Emmett Till was tortured and murdered (public domain). This story by Wright Thompson is worth a read.
A Church for Starving Artists 
A blessed memory makes for a blessed life…
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I love all of this piece. Oh, and your mom would still be young! We just lost two church members, one at 105 and the other at 102. Lives well lived, and going on to more heavenly joys.
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What synchronicity! My sweet, sweet Mother-in-Law, Iris, died this morning. She was 96 and loved by so many.
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Oh Gwen. I’m so very sorry.
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And today is my own natal day, and that of a seminary classmate, and a Shalem classmate who also shares my name. And the birthday of Augustine of Hippo (and the founding of the city in Florida named for him) and of Goethe.
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So grateful you were born. The world needs you.
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Love you
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Thank you. As one who has “special Days” too, thank you.
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This was lovely
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