My Mother

May 5th, 2011 in Archive by The Kitchen Sisters1 Comment

We listened through all the messages that we have received through our NPR phone-line to create this piece which celebrates Mother’s Day 2011.

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Amy and Judith Srodon

My name is Amy Srodon. My pioneering woman is my Mom, who died when she was only 46 and I was 25. She’d been in remission for over 20 years from Hodgkin’s disease, and I now think that she lived the rest of her life knowing it was all borrowed time.

Nothing else could explain the absolute joy and lightness about her. It was impossible not to notice and everyone did. She was funny, she was smart, she was creative. She was attuned to other people’s feelings and was always looking for ways to help others.

I now realize she taught me everything I needed to know about life. It was as if she knew she had to cram everything I would need to know as a girl and then a woman and then a Mom all in a short time. Like how to balance a checkbook, how to parallel park, how to write a thank you note. And she taught be very big things, that as a woman it was important to be smart and capable but still feel okay being pretty and sexy.

She’d call you up just to say happy Sunday. Not always what I wanted to hear in College at 8am with a hangover. Not only did she give me life, but she taught me how to really live it.

Tara Morton and her mom Kathy Leitzell

My name is Tara Morton. My story is about my Mom, who lived in a small town in Illinois. She was one of the first women to run a power plant and one of the first in the world to run a nuclear power plant.

In the 80’s when they tried to get more women in authority in power companies they promoted her up to executive leadership. She was book-ended by VP’s before and after her, even though she never got a VP title. Now that there’s a new female executive that they’re calling VP, they’re saying she’s the first, but really it was my Mom.

She’s in the shadows because it wasn’t politically correct at that point in time in her life to celebrate a woman who could run a power plant. She blazed that trail for a lot of women engineers and she made it possible for the people who are getting credit now to get credit.

Ahri Golden and her mom

This is Ahri Golden, and my story goes like this. I was fouteen years old. My Mom and I were in bed on a Sunday, we were snuggling, we start kind of wrestling a little bit and playing. She kind of pined me, and looked my face, and said, “you’re pregnant”. I got really defensive and I said “I’m not pregnant Mom, what are you talking about?” She said “to hell your not pregnant, I know your pregnant I can tell by your face”.

So we went and got a test. I was pregnant. We went and had an abortion. I remember going to the clinic with pigtails and, my blanket and, my pajamas. I just remember wanting to be a little girl.

The night of the abortion she just held me, and we just spooned in my bed and we cried and she told me about her abortion. I told my boyfriend about it in the hallway the next day. His whole face turned white, he didn’t even know.

My Mom, the way that she showed up for me, that was kind of the beginning of our relationship. The experience I had with my Mom during that time really shaped the way that I can be for my daughter.

This story was produced by our intern Sam Robinson in collaboration with the Kitchen Sisters. Mixing assistance from Jim McKee. Many thanks to all the contributors to this piece for their stories and photographs.

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