happy mothers day....

this is such a glorious photo. it has become my screen saver. i look at these women from the 1930s. simpler times, yet what they had to live through and die for was harder than i can even imagine. but 1st, aren't they just so beautiful.

i love them and apart from my grandmother on the left, i don't know the others, and yet they each have a story to tell. the young woman in white was my grandfathers sister, Aina. she had 3 brothers. the other women were the wives of these brothers, her sisters in-law.

Ziedonis married Erika (2nd left). Alfred married Ruth (right).

Laimons married Lonija (my grandparents). Aina married Edgar.

Ruth & Erika and their husbands did not survive the 2nd world war and the invasion of the Russians into Latvija. the others fled to Australian shores and our families have prospered.

there was great hardship but love grew from seeds of hope. how did people from this experience of persecution and fear, hold onto what they believed and foster courage to continue and then thrive?

my grandmother once said when asked if she was sad about all they had left behind and she replied "look at the riches we have here... everyone has a house, car, a job, families, good education for the children and such happiness." never had she dreamed such abundance would be possible. and yet she created it initially with hard work, no language, living with many families, belief in life and children. it was all possible and beyond her lifetime so much more.....

she would be so amazed at her great grandchildren ......

so to the women, all of us who create and nurture seeds of love, i wish you a happy, sunshiny day, spent with women you come from or with the little things that give your life meaning.

and to lonija, aina, erika & ruth, may you sparkle in the night sky illuminating the way of your future generations and know the inspiration of your lives continues ......

sparkle

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