This photo was taken on March 26, 2011

                     Today is my mom's birthday. 

She was born on March 26, 1933.  

She left us way too soon.  

She passed away from cancer at the age of 56. 

It affected all of us deeply.

            It is spring, a cold and unusual spring.  The whole world is devastated with the pandemic of coronavirus. Most people are staying home as directed by officials.  We can only go out to buy food and essentials. I have been a teacher for many years and for the first time in my career I am having to work from home. Just like my friends and many others, we are adjusting to a new way of life.

            I wonder what my mom would have said about this situation.  She was always looking for the good in every stressful situation. When she lived in Los Angeles area for a year and half, she wrote articles in Farsi which were published at Fogholadeh Persian Weekly Magazine. She gave suggestions in her articles as to what was the best way for parents to raise and deal with their children.  She believed that we have two channels of thoughts in our minds, a negative and a positive one.  She promoted for people to be more in tuned with positive channels through self-awareness. She believed by switching to positive thoughts we could suppress the negative thoughts and worries. She had gone through many challenges in her life.  Her parents were survivors of the Armenian Genocide, so she had to witness and endure the pain and suffering of her parents. Later in her life, she had to endure the pain of  several unexpected deaths in her family. The revolution in Iran and the ensuing political situation, and the war with Iraq didn’t help matters. About this same time she also had to deal with the distance of her two children who were residing in the U.S. at the time. Yet she was able to see the beauty in everything by choosing her mental focus.

            She was spiritual. She was never a judgmental person.  She talked and associated with people from all walks of life, with different backgrounds and means.  She truly loved people, especially children.  She really enjoyed helping people. She always felt it was her calling, her purpose of life.

            When my mother was sick I was far away from her.  Her death was unexpected and shocking to me and my brothers.  It took me many years to deal with it.  Finally, after 15 years I decided to publish her published articles in a magazine in a book.  But it was not an easy task, I cried a lot every time I opened the magazines. Twenty years after her passing I was able to translate the articles into English and publish them as a bilingual English/Farsi book. 

            Today I want to celebrate her kindness, wisdom, and generosity.  Let's look at the blessings in our lives. Let's listen to the birds singing and see the blossoms in the trees.  Let's celebrate life!