“Optimism, Courage, and Love are the three pillars of a good life.”
I was privileged to live with three mothers. My mother, who gave me birth and with whom I lived until I got married at the age of 20. We called her Mama Liza. My wife’s mother (I do not like the term mother-in-law) with whom I lived together after Elfa and I married, who immigrated with us to Israel and to San Francisco, until she passed years later. We called her Mama Masha. Lastly, my wife Elfa— the mother of our two daughters, Alona and Tamar.
Mama Liza became a schoolteacher when I started the first grade. She taught first graders as well, but not at my school. She commuted for an hour by bus to her work. At the end of the day, she brought the children’s homework home in her big briefcase, and different items that she confiscated from her students. I in turn would “confiscate” from her: pocket knives, whistles, and flashlights to barter with my friends. Later on when my brother Aron was born, she went back to school (while working) and became a biology teacher. I would go with her to the public library and copy articles and DNA graphs from the books for her studies. Then our sister Rosa was born. Mom survived World War II working on a farm that grew watermelons. (She couldn’t look at them afterwards.) Life was never easy, but I had a happy childhood. It didn’t matter what happened, my Mom would say “Budet harasho”—everything will be good. I learned from her to be a perpetual optimist. For many years when someone asks me how I am doing, my response is “always good”.
Mama Masha had a different personality. She had a very challenging life, as well. She was born in St. Petersburg before the Russian Revolution. At an early age, she learned how to survive and manage in difficult situations. She married and moved to Riga, Latvia. When the German Army was approaching Riga, she demanded that she, her husband, their five-year-old boy and newborn son leave the city right away. They starved and barely survived and unfortunately their infant son died. But, with her skills as a dressmaker, she managed to get her family back to Riga after the war. My future wife Elfa was born there and after her dad died when she was a child, Mama Masha built their lives as a single mom. She was my courageous conspirator and supported all of my adventures.
My wife Elfa, with whom I have been married to for 47 years, is a symbol of love. She taught me that regardless of what upsets, frustrates or angers me, which I express verbally, I need to connect with my heart. In those moments, all those other feelings go away and what remains is love.
P.S.
Mothers are mothers in every place in the world. Here are images that I took of some of the mothers I met in Cuba, and are in my book Soy Cubano available here for purchase.
DO NOT KEEP ME AS A SECRET.
SMILE AND PLEASE SHARE IT WITH A FRIEND