My dear wife Karen’s mother, Caroline.
I sat in the living room of Aunt Pauline’s house out there in Van Nuys years ago, happily in the middle of a California history tour with the woman who’d yet to become my dear wife Karen.
A picture on the TV caught my eye, a framed shot of Aunt Pauline’s sister. I walked over to pick it up, hold it in my hands, give it a nice long look.
“Your mother was a fox!” I told Karen, who looked so much like the woman in the picture I was holding.
Aunt Pauline was not offended by my comment. The visit continued into her kitchen, where she pulled out more albums of family pictures of the days she spent with her sister Caroline, the mother of the woman who now is my dear wife Karen.
Last night, I noticed that my sister-in-law, Lynne, had posted this picture of Caroline on Facebook. It’s not the one that was on Aunt Pauline’s TV set, but it sure is a good one. Last night, Karen told me that it is a familiar picture that she’d see framed at her grandma’s house.
I sure wish I had gotten to meet my mother-in-law Caroline, a foxy woman who brought into this world my wife, who looks so much like her.
Thank you, Caroline, for working so hard to bring up your family of five. I hear good things about you every time Karen and I talk about your family.
I am pretty sure Caroline would have liked me. A good clue is that her sister, Aunt Pauline, liked me a lot. Even the second day we met, after that memorable first visit concluded with me backing our rented Mustang convertible over the daisies at the end of her driveway.
Happy Mother’s Day to all.
Is there a mother out there of somebody special who you never got to meet?
Mark Bialczak 
This was so sweet and a special memory of Aunt Pauline. I think Caroline would have asked you to call her “Mom” and you would have been great buds! She was definitely a ‘class act,’ Mark and raised a beautiful and talented woman, Karen! Thanks for the kind Mother’s Day wishes, too! It is good to know I have you as a friend, Mark!
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Thank you for all of your warmth, Robin!
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No doubt she would have adored you. Beauty runs in Karen’s family I see. What a great photo. Isn’t it true that it’s a good omen when company takes out a patch daisies in their convertible mustang? Maybe it’s more like, “you can’t bake a [wedding] cake without breaking an egg.” 😉
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It was more like Karen in the car saying ‘Mark, the daisies!’ Ah, Aunt Pauline was laughing about it the next morning so all was good. Yes, that was a good omen and a now a family proverb, Sandra! 🙂
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I like your new backdrop and header, Beels. Has a nice feel to it. Isn’t it amazing how simple changes can be high impact? I’m a firm believer in re-arranging the furniture from time to time. Changes your perspective. Do you ever do that?
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Funny, Sandra, I am not big on actual furniture arranging in the two main rooms of my life. But on the porches and kitchen and guest room, I’m into it!
The blog header comes from the same spot as the old one, Onondaga Lake Park, the site of my walk with Ellie B in my post today. The old header was taken in the barren winter. This is the rebirth of summer. I was going for the contrast. The background shot is the same place.
Thank you!
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Nice work. It’s beautiful!
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Thank you!
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I know for a fact she would have LOVED you, bent daisies not withstanding. Great post! 😀
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Thanks, Rachel. My back-up skills out of skinny driveways may be somewhat lacking, sure, but I think we would have really gotten along, too.
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LOL! I have no doubt. 🙂
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Putting the “daisy” in “oopsy daisy,” I see. It’s all good. There are worse ways to make a first impression.
I’m sure that Karen’s mother would have liked you. You have a positive aura about you, a good spirit, and you’re always smiling whenever I see you.
Hope you and Karen had a great weekend, and send her a happy Mother’s Day message as well.
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Thanks, Chris. I hope you had a great visit with your wonderful Mom.
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Actually, Mark, I’m the mother of someone special I never got to meet, at least during the 17 hours that she was alive. My personal angel, my daughter Jennifer. I only heard her one cry and caught a blurry glimpse of her as they took her away to the nursery, but it was enough to know she was beautiful, sweet, and special, and that she didn’t have long in this world. But she sits on my shoulder forever, so she is never lost from me.
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You are lucky to have heard that one cry and caught that one glimpse and to have carried those memories forever, Angie. God bless.
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what a really sweet post, mark. i’m sure they love having you in the family and i’m quite sure caroline would have loved you too )
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Thanks, Beth. I was very glad to have met Aunt Pauline, Caroline’s sister. Out of Karen’s four siblings, though, I’ve only met one, Lynne, who visited us here from Arkansas. The others live in California, Oregon and Alaska. We’re planning a family reunion next summer in a central location!
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perfect, that will be so fun )
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Yes, I am looking forward to being the new relative!
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I”m sure she’s smiling down at this post right now. I wish I could have met my grandmother, killed at 45 in a car wreck.
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Oh, no, Kerbey. I am sorry to hear that you lost your grandma so young, before you were born.
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This is so beautiful. Wonderful post Mark.
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Thank you, Teela. Have a great day!
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You too Mark
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Mark I am pretty sure your Dear Wife Karen’s mother would adore you. MOre so even than we do. It would probably be because you adore her daughter. How wonderful of you to think of her, and wish to have met her. You have a grand heart friend. 🙂
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I do so regret that both of Karen’s parents were gone by the time I met her. Thank you, Colleen! Have a great Mother’s Day.
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I would have liked to meet my mum’s mum. But I feel very grateful that when I was about four my parents agreed for my dad’s mum to come and live with us, She was in her 90’s and from Liverpool. We lived in a village miles away. If they hadn’t opened their home to her (and it was a small home) I don’t think I would have got to know her. She passed away after about eighteen months with us and in that time I got to know her and now I remember her well.
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That is very fantastic, Rachel, that you had that 18 months with your great-grandmother on your dad’s side.
I also had the opportunity to get to know my father’s grandmother, how lived blocks away from us in New York City for the first four or five years of my life. She used to call me Marek, which was Mark in Polish. She was the only person to do that!
I know you celebrated your Mother’s Day in the U.K. last month, but I will wish you a happy special Sunday nevertheless, my friend.
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Thanks for the Mother day wishes mark. That is very special that your fathers grandmother called you by your Polish name.
Now my grandmother was very disappointed that I wasn’t a boy (she wanted the family name to carry on) so she never called me Rachel. I was known as ‘that child’ ! But I loved her all the same. It never bothered me. I used to play schools with her – me the’ teacher’ getting my grandma to write her name on bits of paper.
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Ha! I love the thought of little you having great grandma writing her name on bits of paper!
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Sweet story.
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Thank you, Kim.
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Beauitful, Mark, and very heart touching. I wish as well you could have met your wife’s Mother. In fact, you do every day through your wife. Karen has her DNA so her Mom still lives in her. xx Amy
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Beautiful comment, Amy, thank you so much! Karen says so, too. She just replies she believes she most gets from her mom her sense of humor and her observational skills. A great conversation for us to have on Mother’s Day morning. Thank you, again.
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Oh, Mark, you are so welcome!!!! May you have a Great Day with your wife today!!! Love, Amy
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We will. And you with your loved ones as well, Amy. May you enjoy some great garden time, too!
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Thank you, Mark. (((HUGS))) Amy
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I wish my kids could have met their grandmother, my mother.
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I think they will be wishing that today, too, Dora. Will you be looking at pictures together, maybe?
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A beautiful tribute to an important person you’ve never met! I’m sure she would have liked you too. 🙂
Diana xo
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Thank you, Diana. I sure hope so.
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I love this post, Mark. And, let’s see … the mother of somebody special I never got to meet? Hmmm. My mind’s a blank. I guess I’ve gotten to meet a lot of mothers in my life (thank goodness).
Thinking some more …. I know! I never got to meet the mothers of my (adopted-from-shelters) cats.
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That’s a good one, Ann. I’ll add my beloved rescue dogs, too!
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