Sundays with Mom: A Family Chronicle

Motherhood is giving life, loving and nurturing. Of all emotions, a mother's love is arguably the most genuine and the most intense. My mother's love was unconditional and she was more than just a mom. She was a gentlewoman, a wife, a university graduate, a professional, a translator, a maid, a cook, a soldier, a volunteer, a caregiver; also a beauty, a cosmopolitan and a polyglot. Being much more than a mom made her an even better and more interesting mom. Her happy adolescence was shattered by the Nazi occupation and her brothers' maladies. But misfortune made her more resilient, her family more united, her love deeper, her friendships more meaningful, and her purpose in life clearer. Due to our 'gypsy life', Mom and I spoke every Sunday over the phone for more than four decades. And every time I received practical wisdom, loving reassurance or a silver lining. Based on our conversations, her writings, our diaries, and family documents, this text is an attempt to reconstruct a sequence in her art of living.