Happy Valentine's Day...

Although not a big occasion for me, and something I find cloyingly commercialised in this country, Valentine's Day nonetheless brings back thoughts of flowers, puzzles, cards and other small gifts my mother and I would share when I was growing up. She gave me a Valentine remembrance of some kind until passing away eleven years ago. My favourite is a vegetarian cookbook, which she signed and dated, despite her rather constant disapproval of that choice.

To say that we mixed rather like oil and water during much of my adulthood is no exaggeration; Sadly, that is a situation in which many women find themselves. Still, I can chuckle at the memory of her face as she unwrapped two heart-shaped packages, finding first the right then the left foot of a pair of slippers stuffed and decorated as giant Hershey's Kisses, a gift she eventually wore the batting out of.
They were the only slippers like that that I've seen and I cannot recall where I found them.

Wishing all of you a Happy Valentine's Day.

Until Next Time...

Theme Thursday: Mirrors

How often has she consulted the mirror,

To sort out her hair, visage or clothing, smoothing skin, eyes or fabric with practised hands, a ritual so ingrained it no longer bears consideration.

Free of the mask donned for others, the face she meets today leaves her searching for signs of dreams traded or reluctantly forgotten, love tamped down by complications, then lost amid banalities.

Reflections of a life no longer hers to claim.