A Mother Seen Through the Eyes of a Daughter

 

I’m stuck in Ioannina on a business trip.

What to do, what to do?

I’ve surfed the internet, talked on the phone, texted some friends of mine, and that’s it, I should have brought a book with me.

I’m left with my thoughts, oh, and how strange thoughts can be, when feeling brutally bored.

I’m not going to dwell on those; I’ll keep them to myself.

What I will do however, is talk about my mum, write a little story about her and hopefully she will like it.

Here goes then, a spontaneous outburst of love for Susie. She is married to this Greek guy, MGG (My Greek God), I’m sure you’ve heard all about him.

 

 

Susie is the oldest of three sisters, Gillian, who, even though she is blonde nowadays, will always be my brunette Aunt, and Jayne, the youngest, my hippie Aunt!

My mother refers to Jayne with the fab phrase:  “Whatever Happened to Baby Jayne”.

 

 

Susie is the daughter of Kenneth and Mary, I was lucky to have known my grandpa, an extraordinary world traveler and a unique gentleman.

 

 

Unfortunately, I never knew Mary, a beautiful, Coco Chanel look alike.

I’m certain that she must have been awesome, judging by my mother!

 

 

She has a son, my brother Yiannis, Me; Nais, and two Pug dogs, Maurice and Hugo, and, of course, her granddaughter, our beautiful little rascal, Melina.

 

 

 

 

When someone asks me what colour hair she has, I immediately say blonde, but I do remember her having red “artificial” curls, then brown, and then blonde again, a beautiful blonde bob, which later became a perfect “Diana” hairstyle, it made her look immaculate (But made her look a bit older than she was-sorry mum!).

 

 

She has large grey/green eyes and a Cindy Crawford beauty spot, above her top lip.

I once purposely gave myself a scar, in the same place, just to look like her.

My sadness was massive when my skin healed itself!

 

 

To continue with the compliments, she has one of the best figures that I have ever seen, she was a Leeds athlete, back in the day.(Was it the pentathlon you did mum?).

It is true what they say, our bodies never forget, my mother is a living example of that.

A true lover of light, a hunter of the slightest ray of sun, when my brother and I were small, she took us to the beach every day; we left, only when the sun went down.

 

 

I vividly remember a pink striped beach towel that she had, with a pillow attached to it.

When we came out of the sea, she would wrap us in our Disney towels, and hug us tight in her arms to keep us warm.

I always picture her driving; she drove us everywhere, always singing along to the radio.

By the age of five, I knew by heart; Sting’s “Englishman in New York”, Toto’s “Africa” and Crosby, Still, Nash & Young’s “Suit Judy Blue Eyes”

I definitely inherited my love of music from her, I will always be grateful for that.

 

 

White shirts, as you may have already read in her blog, are her passion, and, of course, jeans.

“Keep it simple Nais” A phrase I often hear from her, when asked what she thinks about one of my outfits.

Books, oh what can I say about the connection between books and my sweet Sue?

If possible, she would have a book attached to her wrist, she is constantly reading!

Her bedside table is always packed with numerous books, some of them which she has read two or three times.

 

 

She has an envious collection of “Coffee Table Books” let’s say, most of them art-themed.

Having said that, she is very arty, without actually ever trying to be arty, if you know what I mean, it just comes naturally to her.

She can paint, she is excellent at handcrafts and she dances the best Zeibekiko I’ve ever seen!

I have a beautiful picture that she painted for me, hanging on my sitting room wall, little does she know, but I cried when she gave me it.

 

 

She loves scent, let me tell you, however, that her natural scent is always way better than any cologne, or fried onions, I love, love, love the smell of fried onions!

She never stops talking and she always has a new story to tell.

How is that possible after all these years?

I should know everything about her by now!

Sorry for being all over the place, but I’ve decided to write anything that comes to mind, so please, bear with me.

Some say she seems rather snobbish, probably because she doesn’t hug and kiss people that she doesn’t know well.

Good for you Susie, this characteristic of yours makes your hugs unique, when you give them!

Not to mention that I prefer your sincerity to hypocritical affection.

Others say that she has a heart of gold, perhaps these were the lucky ones, who got to know her better.

 

 

My mother would never leave her children, never; she would punch anyone who tried to hurt my brother or myself!

 

 

Believe me when I say that her face lights up when any member of her family are mentioned.

Confident, strong, well-spoken, she knows her stuff!

I’ve tried; I’ve really tried to be like her.

Hopefully, one day, if I have a daughter, she will be able to say the same about me, as I have about my mother in this post.

That will be my biggest achievement.

 

 

 

She worries about my well-being, I’ve attempted to hide many bad moments from her, but she always knows when something is not right, how magical is that?

I’ve almost made myself choke on the telephone, by holding back my tears, she then comes up with some ridiculous excuse to hang up, so as to avoid making me feel uncomfortable, thank you for that.

Mum, I’ll always be fine, please don’t worry, you taught me well.

Feeling emotional right now, got to go!

I’ll leave you with a few pictures of my mum and me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your fans will have to wait for my second wave of pride and love for you.

Happy Mother’s Day, to my lovely, inspiring mentor, my mother.

Love you lots!

 

Related:

To My Children – On Being a Mother