May Special Feature - Remembering Mom by Marilyn Meredith

As part of our special May feature dedicated to mothers, I have asked some of my writing and blogging friends to share memories of their mothers with our readers.

This one is from Marilyn Meredith, author of over twenty-five books, who also writes the Rocky Bluff P.D. series under the name of F. M. Meredith. The latest book in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series is No Sanctuary--which we reviewed here.

You can find Marilyn online at http://fictionforyou.com and http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com.

My mom passed away at age 97, still alert of mind, her body worn out. I have many, many memories of mom, but one I enjoy thinking about is the time she, my sis and I went to Hawaii on a tour. Mom was 80 at the time. Oh, what a glorious time we had. We stayed in the Royal Hawaiian on Oahu first (the pink hotel on Waikiki beach), traveled by plane to Kauai and then on to Maui. Though mom was quite able-bodied, we got better rooms because of her age.

Sis and I swam in the ocean every chance we got. Mom would sit on the beach guarding our belongings. On Maui, Sis and I swam and floated way out to sea. When we realized how far we were, we spotted mom jumping up and down back on shore. She was probably hollering too, but we couldn't hear her. When we waded in, she bawled us out like we were little kids.

Everywhere we went, someone presented us with a lei--except at one stop. Mom, obviously disappointed, said quite loudly, "Aren't we getting leied?" Of course it sounded like "laid" and everyone had a good laugh.

We also had an adventure on Kauai when we took a helicopter ride over Kauai's Grand Canyon. Lush green and lots of waterfalls. Exciting for all three of us as we'd never been in a helicpoter before.

It was a wonderful trip and I'm so glad we did it.

Marilyn