Sunday is Mother’s Day: Have you gone out and gotten your card, flower or gift for mom? You still have time. Especially in our community, the moms of Verona need and deserve a day of recognition.
I was blessed to grow up in Verona, just as my mom, her mom (my grandmother) AND her mom (my great-grandmother). Both of my grandmothers lived in Verona. From the time I was seven, my maternal grandmother lived right next door to us; it is the house that I now live in. (A wise move on my parents part as both my maternal grandparents got older, it was easier to keep an eye on them.) Because I was lucky to have both sets of grandmothers in town, I have many memories of them both. My maternal grandmother was more of your “traditional” women. She was warm and loving. She had a sewing room and could fix anything. She was also a small woman and I can remember as a child always measuring myself against her and being thrilled when I was taller than her by the time I got to high school. (Of course my son is now as tall as I am and he’s only in 5th grade!) My paternal grandmother was more of a traveler and she took me places like Sterling Forest Gardens in New York. And while she did not cook like my maternal grandmother, she did bake an angel food cake that everyone raved about. I can’t comment on it since I am allergic to eggs, but she also made a special fudge frosting for the cake and always put aside extra so that I could enjoy the delicious chocolate fudge while everyone else ate cake.
When I was in school my mother (that’s her above with my son) was very active in the Verona community. She was a substitute teacher (I dreaded it if she was filling in for one of MY teachers) and also tutored many high school students in biology. She generally didn’t take any “crap” from her students and that included future actor and comedian Jay Mohr. I know she liked him (mostly because he once stood up to a bully for my brother), but told him his antics in the class would get him into trouble, so for the most part he behaved. (At least as far as I know…) Perhaps my mom was an original helicopter mom (and not in a bad way), as a substitute teacher she could keep an eye on my brother and I, and also surreptitiously knew what was going on in our school life.
One of the most wonderful things about Verona is that it is a community full of nurturing and caring mothers. If my mother was not around and I needed help I always knew there was someone else to turn to in our neighborhood: Mrs. Buckley or Mrs. Pratola. I still live in the same neighborhood and my son knows that if he we were not around he could turn to Mrs. Capozzi or Mrs. Knoetig. (I wish that I could put down Mrs. Renzulli. Our “Montclair Avenue Mom” was a second mother not just to kids on our block but to every child she ran into. She was someone you could ALWAYS turn to no matter what. I, and my family, miss her every day, but were blessed to be part of her “Avenue Family” while she was with us.)
I have been influenced by so many Verona moms. Mrs. Citrano (Virginia’s mom) taught me how to sew when I was in Girl Scouts. (Sadly, this was a skill I did not hold onto.) My Aunt Sally Foster inspired me to be active in the theater. The Rev. Dr. Julia Dawson (who was always just Aunt Julie to me) taught me about compassion and caring for others. Those are just three, but the list could go on and on.
I know my son’s life is being enriched by moms of Verona too. There are the moms who drive him home from school most days. There are the moms who always have an extra snack. Someday I hope my son will look back, as I do today, and realize how much better his life is because of the mothers of Verona.
Beth Shorten is a life-long resident of Verona. For more than three years, she has been chronicling life here on her personal site, Bfth’s Boring Blog.
