A Mother’s Day Gift

Sunday morning, a feeling of joy overcomes me; an emotion reserved for special occasions. The one where you begin to feel the excitement the week before. You know the one….the children are coming. They are coming as they have done since they left for college.

Around the table they will share with my husband and me their growing up: looking for jobs; searching for an apartment in the city, making friends, dating, being sad and frustrated at times, content and fulfilled at others, getting married, having children. I loved watching my children becoming adults. Sometimes without them looking, I would steal a glimpse thinking to myself: “Is my older one really as happy as she sounds since she met her boyfriend; is my younger daughter really enjoying law school; was it the right decision for her?” So much stress: I almost feel like I was sitting with her in her classroom suffering. “And what’s up with my son. Has he made good friends in college who appreciate his kindness?” And then the years passed. Sundays are going by and the children are coming. They are coming with precious bundles in their hands: strollers with the little people resembling the babies I used to hold.

Wait just a second. No, I’ve got no time. The children are coming. The grandchildren are here: Chicken soup on the stove, the swing-set is clean and ready to go… Is there anything more important than this in life?

Submitted by Ruth Frankel

Ruth Motola Frankel was born in Petach Tikvah, the oldest city in Israel. She is a fifth generation sabra who lived on a simple farm in what was then a small agricultural town. She is a combination of the old and the new in Israel: raised on her parents’ farm, she became a fashion model and clothing designer in Israel. Ultimately, she emigrated to the United States to pursue these professions, settling in Scarsdale with her husband and three children.

Frankel’s early paintings evoke remembrances of growing up in Israel. One review of her work described her paintings as “true originals...her artistic bent has been transformed into striking canvasses that are extraordinarily unique and exciting.” Her art has been exhibited both in the United States and in Israel, including the Cork Gallery in Lincoln Center.