Four generations of great mothers

Well, not this time.

I promised to continue our education debate in the next post, but it's going to have to wait till Monday. I certainly can't let Mother's Day pass without talking about what it means to me.

I have known four wonderful mothers in my lifetime (only one of them was mine), and each of them were different in their own way. My grandmother (my mother's mother) is probably the finest person I have ever known. She was intelligent, insightful, empathetic, loving and gentle. She raised two children to appreciate the values of education and family, and she lived almost 95 years.

My own mother was part of the first generation of women that didn't automatically think they were supposed to stay home and raise families. She was in and out of the working world for years with five children, something that certainly limited how far she could rise.

I have no doubt that if all her efforts had been devoted to a career, she would certainly have been a CEO, or perhaps even a senator or president. She's one of the two smartest people I have ever known, and also one of the two hardest workers.

She has also been a wonderful mother, both protective of her children and also encouraging. She has been a widow for the last year, an adjustment after more than 50 years of marriage to the love of her life. If she's slowing down some, it isn't much. She can still run circles around me.

The third mother I know well is my wife, who did a wonderful job with two children first through a bad marriage, then through five years alone and finally through the last 16-plus years with me. What has always impressed me the most about Nicole as a mother is that she never tried to limit her children's dreams, and she reacted fiercely to anyone who did.

Whenever either Pauline or Virgile needed someone to talk with one of their teachers, I was always the one delegated to do so. You see, if anyone had tried to say anything bad about either one of her babies, my wife might have scratched their eyes out.

That's three generations of mothers, and each can be judged favorably by the fact that their children not only grew up strong and successful, they all still love their mothers very much.

The fourth mother in this story is Pauline, who had her first child last September. From everything I can see, she may turn out to be the best mother of the lot. Despite the fact that she works full-time as a foreign service officer with the Department of State, her daughter is getting all the attention, all the love, that a baby could ever want.

I'm so proud of her, and I love her so much.

I'm actually proud of all of them. So on this day when we honor our mothers, I'll think of Florence Kindinger, Yvonne Rappaport, Nicole Rappaport and Pauline Kastner and I'll smile.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you.

And baby Maddie, you've got a lot of tradition to live up to.