bountiful mothers, hallelujah, girls!

Friday, as I mentioned before, started with me in the company of an important mother in my life. (Her loving husband was also there, but this is not about him.) My eldest niece may not have borne children yet, but she has been providing a loving home, loving words, and loving arms to others' children, as a foster mom senza eguali.
Yes, Mama has been on my mind lately. How could she not be, with the constant barrage of commercials berating all to spend money on their mothers? This is my fourteenth Mother's Day without her, so the pleas on the airwaves don't crush me as they once did. Mostly, I don't listen to the radio at this time and I don't watch those ads.

Well, I found that afternoon that I was on Mama's mind, too.
After catching up with my grocery shopping, as I was walking through the parking lot, a coppery coin caught my eye.
A penny!
The bagboy didn't know quite what to make of my stopping to pick it up, nor did he understand about pennies from loved ones in heaven. That's okay, I know the importance of the message, my dear Mother!
(Trust me, I will discuss that another time. I had truly thought I already had... but a search revealed I have not.)
So, I was just chilling out after buying a ridiculous amount of groceries. I was watching "Psych" and leafing through the entertainment newspaper to see what was going on, what time things would be starting.
Suddenly, I realized the choice had been made for me. Dinner needed to be eaten before I went anywhere and, as time was already nearing 7 PM, that meant "The Trip To Bountiful" would be my evening's fare. Cool beans! I would plan on attending "The Hallelujah Girls", down on Tybee, on Sunday afternoon. What a lovely way to bookend my Mother's Day weekend!
And so it has been.

"The Trip To Bountiful" placed me in the midst of mothers of all ages. Some women of my age, or thereabouts, were there with their moms. Women of several ages were sitting with their daughters and sons, The play itself was about the relationship of an aged mother and her not-so-young son and his wife. They had moved to town two decades earlier, in search of work, and were living on top of each other in a tiny apartment. The mother wanted to return to her home of long ago, in a tiny town called Bountiful which had been settled by her grandparents. Just to breathe that air, one more time, would bring her some peace!

We hear of several of her botched attempts to flee the nagging wife of her henpecked son.
This time, though, is going to be different!
And it is.
She finds the bus doesn't go to that tiny town anymore, because no businesses are there. She is told by the stationmaster that her best friend, the last resident of the town, has just been buried that very day. She ends up with a sympathetic sheriff who gives her a ride to the old homestead... or, rather, to what is left of it. Still, with the "kiss of the sun for pardon and the song of the birds for mirth", her heart no longer felt so heavy and stifled. Peace of mind was attained at last.
(The quote there is from an embroidery sampler that my mother had done and I had grown up seeing on the wall in the hall. I wish I knew where that piece of her art is.)
It was opening night, so there was champagne and tiny pastry shells of chicken salad and slices of roast beef curled up on thin crusty bread with horseradish sauce! There were tiny desserts, too, on silver trays that wove in and out of the crowd. I lingered and visited with some of the mothers, including one who had finally returned from Greece. nice!
This morning, my first niece came by with the little boy she is fostering. They were going to the Mighty Eighth Museum and wondered would I like to go?

Not this time, my dears!
"The Hallelujah Girls" were singing their siren song and luring me to the beach!
As soon as I saw that Bill Cooper was in the play, I knew it would be a good one! Also, the Tybee Performing Arts Center does quite nicely, thank you so very much, at presenting a slate of comedies, rather than the more serious works chosen by other troupes.
Thank God!
This comedy was divine, too!
The story revolved around the death of a beloved friend, one who had always put off doing something she really wanted to do... and now it was too late for her, but not for her four girlfriends.
Nosirreebob!
Only one of the women seemed to be a mother and she had a son who was grown but preferred mooching off her - then he moved in his girlfriend, too! Yeah, another one of those guys.
The friendship of these women was fabulous to behold! Though men came and went (one had married three times, with her husbands dying due to stupidity each time), they were there to lend a hand, mothering each other. And these were all older women, too! Very nice!
The theatre was pretty full of older women, too. You know, over-thirty. I am sure several of them are mothers, too. Some of them have already lost their mothers to death's embrace, as I have, and seeing older women in positive, strong roles was of great comfort.
Especially on this day of celebration of mothers.