Thankful - I Really Do Have a Great View to Work From During This Homestay. Happy Mother's Day

As I wrote yesterday, I now have a monitor on my bedroom desk, and it cycles through a different set of photographs than my laptop. Yesterday, when I came up from my 7 a.m. coffee to begin writing and working, the two monitors were synched perfectly.

I said, "Now isn't this a Mother's Day surprise. Mom's going to have two blogs dedicated to her in one week."

I love this image for a variety of reasons, first and foremost that we're all stranded from one another, but united here - at this moment. Next to the screen is a #1 Teacher mug given to me by a 5th grader in Louisville who couldn't read. I spent a summer working with her and by the end of the summer, not only was she reading, but she was voraciously reading. That mug means a lot to me.

Then there are the boys and I at Short Beach. It seems like yesterday, but the twins were still in college and Chitunga was just out of high school going to Housatonic Community College (he is, this week, finished with a Masters).

Then there is a classic photo of Butch and Sue on the 2nd floor of Amalfi Drive. Butch is swallowing a pill, likely one he forgot to take and he scolded my mom, "Would you get off my case?" He's also wearing the Superpower of Hope t-shirt from CWP-Fairfield last summer, showing he remains a Superman, even as he learns how to watch television entirely in Spanish without a clue. He's never take a Spanish class in his life and has no idea what they are saying.

And then, Mom. Of course, Mom. I'm sure she's saying something snarky to him, "Butch, why are you watching Spanish soap operas? Butch, didn't you already take your pills? Butch, I told you already I took the money out of the checking account."

I look at that photo and think she might turn her head to start talking to me, Abu, Lossine, and Chitunga. "What are you up to, today? Do you want to have a picnic out back or are you going to stay at the beach? It's Mother's Day, and it would be great for you to join us."

And all of us wish we could. We'd love to join her.

It was wonderful to walk into my house and see all of them together, side by side, doing as they do - my Clay home and my Stratford one, united for a moment once again.

My flowers for her arrived last week. I also shouted out to my mom for being a great teacher. But this, this is the better Mother's Day gift (even if it is only on screen).

This, to me, is pure happiness. Family, with the matriarch and the Superman.