Mothers Day Surprise

I just got home from a lovely late luncheon with DH and son. We went to one of my favorite restaurants and I had a wonderful meal.

Of course, Mothers Day had me thinking of my own mother and I dug out a couple of pictures to share:

Here's Mom at the beach. Cape May, I'm sure - her favorite.

And Mom with her first three grandchildren (Rob on the left, Tommy on her lap and Janie on the right), again at the beach! Does she look overwhelmed? It got even better after Molly was born.

The surprise was that after we sat down for our lunch and were perusing the menu, a woman at the next table said, "Maryanne, is that you?" I looked up, and it was our mother's friend, Marie!

This is Mom on the left and Marie on the right - at a High School reunion.

Marie was mom's best friend at least back to high school, and she was the nurse in the delivery room when I was born. The story was always that Marie managed to slip Mom a little extra something to make the delivery easier.

Apparently Mom had introduced Marie to her future husband, Charlie, and both women were in each others' weddings. Marie and Mom both had lots of kids and would only see each other sporadically after the kids started coming, but when they did, there was never the feeling of time passing. They would just pick up where they left off.

We caught up on what is happening with all of us and then she told us a story about how she and Mom used to go to the park to swing, and pick up guys.

I hadn't seen Marie since Mom died over 4 years ago and it was wonderful to see her again. I feel like it was as close to being with Mom again as I could get.