HELLO!

Happy Mother’s Day. I know many who find today to be their favorite day of the year. My Kim would be one. My late mother would be another. Their “mothering” philosophies were different. I have deep appreciation for both and the many other such approaches to parenting. On this Christian Family Sunday, I affirm all channels of love that inspire joy, service and kinship. I remember the celebration of our parents’ anniversary, held then in Kim’s rectory in Stewiacke, where my brother Chris spoke movingly about how our mother’s love allowed him to soar like an eagle. In essence he was saying mom’s love was less about how to live and more about the gift of life, how she was there to support his choices, his gifts. A revealing backstory, my mother once told me she felt called to be a Christian missionary. Later, she met our father. Soon after came two sons. Seven years later, a surprise. Another son.

My mother was a creature of tradition, and yet she was open to new ideas, even if they did not impact her life. The minister she most admired, a woman, was widely understood to be in relationship with another woman. When the divisive issue of the ordination of gays and lesbians emerged in 1988, my mother was a supporter. When one of the last conservative-firebrand UCC (he would never be ordained today) clergy filled at our church, the small congregation of 40 stood and applauded his anti-gay sermon, except for my mom and me. Mom also volunteered at the Natural History Museum on Summer Street in Halifax. There she learned about other cultures, grew as a person, and shared this with us when we came together for family events. Advocacy, service, and growth are important for all of us, and for parents such passions rub off on their children and grandchildren. I often tell people, my personality is a combination of my father’s eccentricity, his willingness to be himself no matter society’s never-ending insistence on conformity and my mother the do-gooder, searching for neighbours to include, remembering their preferences (gifts). And our child is a combination of Kim’s unconditional love, her adoring affection for Lucian, the way those two spent two decades like close siblings, and my work ethic, willingness to serve and refusal to give in to conformity of any kind. We inherit our love.

And speaking of mothers, how about the most successful “Clothing Swap” coordinated by Lisa Webb and Emily Allen that was held today (see photo). This effort is exactly what those visionaries hoped for when they were writing Bethe’s job description, what Bethe has been doing since she arrived, drawing people from the community into our space. Lisa and Emily have done likewise. Excellent examples for this Christian Family Sunday at Woodlawn. Our thanksgiving to them. Peace, Kevin

PS This column appeared in the Halifax Daily News soon after mother died. Further, recently someone sent me this link to my mother’s gravestone. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/262088637/lenora-muriel-little I rarely visit her grave but I often think of her, and her love.