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"Annie Are You Ok?" by Susan Owens

5/26/2020

Preface by Matt Adams:
In middle school, I acted in a production of "Annie" and played radio personality Bert Healy. The production was directed by the talented Sue Owens, who also happened to be my chorus teacher. My mom always went out of her way to get to know people that had an impact on me. Her and Sue became friends over the years. A few weeks ago, Sue reached out to me to see if my wife and I were doing okay with everything that has been happening regarding the pandemic, which I thought was really kind. She also shared a card with me that my mother made her. Here's her story:

"I have so many wonderful stories about your mom! Your mother would surprise me with amazing homemade meals she used to bring me. Along with the food came a note and a colorful napkin and maybe a hand-picked flower. She also made Thank You cards to make sure people felt appreciated. This card has greeted me every day for almost 30 years. It’s in my kitchen treasure drawer!

The year we produced Annie, she also ordered me a bouquet of incredible long-stem roses, I believe from Columbia, and she raced to the airport to pick them up so the cast could give them to me closing night. The stems were soooooo long!!! Now you wanna know the kicker to this wonderful story?! Your mom was SO pleased that she found such special roses. They were almost as long as she was tall. After searching for a tall enough vase, I think I wrapped up a 5-gallon bucket and put a rock or a brick in the bottom to hold the massive long-stemmed beauties. I woke up the next morning to dropping flowers, with petals falling! Every single one!!!! I remember I saved those petals for years - until they disintegrated!!

Oh, how I hope I expressed my gratitude and appreciation, but, most of all, my LOVE for all your mom did for the students - and me. She always validated my purpose of making a difference in this world through music and how important it was to create real, authentic, caring relationships with others, especially my students and their families!"

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Homeade shirts and "Jams"

5/19/2020

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My mom was a wizard behind the sewing machine. While most kids don't like the clothing their mothers make, I was crazy about mine. I especially loved the shirt that she made me in the pic below.

If you were an 80's kid, you'll remember that there were shorts with a Hawaiian theme that were crazy popular called "jams" and my mom must have made a pair for every kid in our neighborhood. When word got out that she had made them for my brothers and I, the other kids in the neighborhood inevitably wanted in on the action.

Friends would ask her if she could make them a pair and because of the kind of person she was, she would instruct whoever wanted a pair to simply go to a fabric shop and have them pick out a yard or so of their favorite print and she'd make the shorts for free.

Because there was alway a bit of fabric left over, and because I was so little, I would always get a pair of shorts from the scraps. At one point, the entire second drawer of my dresser was filled with jams and I had over 25 pairs. I remember getting a kick out of counting them and I would, from time to time, just open the drawer to admire my stash.

My brother Mark said that he brought some to college back in 1985 and she even made some for his college friends that school year. I always wondered how I had so many pairs because I had more pairs of jams than there were kids in the neighborhood.

Of course, I didn't only get the leftover scraps. She would also let me pick out my own fabric and would make me matching shirt and short combos which I especially thought I looked cool in. Here's one of me casually posing in front of the mailbox with my fresh new outfit.

The fact that she made jams for not just my brothers and I but also helped clothe the neighborhood will always make me smile. Like cooking, sewing was another way for my mother to share her love with the world.

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Happy 80th Birthday!

5/13/2020

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Happy 80th Birthday to the best mom a kid could ask for! Here's a few of my favorite snaps of us. #YearOfRubyTuesday

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"Curried Chicken and Roti," shot by Mark Adams

5/12/2020

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When I was younger, I thought it was the act of cooking that my mother loved, but when I got older I realized that yes, she enjoyed cooking but what she truly loved was feeding people. Cooking was another way for her to express her love and if you came over to Braeside Lane, chances were that you would leave with a full stomach. One of her favorite recipes to make was curried chicken and roti, a dish that she learned from her mom.

In September of 2014, Mark surprised our mother with an unannounced visit from Austin and while he was home, he shot the video below. Their playful banter really makes me smile.

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"You are my Sunshine" by Vicenta Sartor

5/10/2020

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My mother, Margaret, passed away in 1995, shortly after the birth of my second daughter Samantha. She would never feel the joy of grandparenting my babies, Gabriella, Samantha, Monique and Michael.

For the past 30 years, and really, even before, from my earliest memories at the age of five, my sister, Ruby, who is 20 years my senior, has been my mother-figure.

Sadly, today she has severe memory loss. Though she remembers me, she can no longer hold a conversation. Still, the simple pleasures such as the warm kiss of sunshine on her face, the delicate fragrance of flowers, the aroma of freshly baked bread, and the mist of ocean spray against her skin bring joy to her heart. Because of our age difference, people sometimes thought I was my sister’s daughter.

Dear to me, are the fond memories of my childhood. Oh, how she would dote on me, sewing for me, beautiful “Sunday” dresses, with embroidered strawberries and bits of lace, and buying me shiny, black-patent-Baby-Janes. She called me her “papoose.” My beautiful sister Ruby was intellectual, brilliant and articulate.

She worked at the Bank of Nova Scotia while attending Teacher’s college in the West Indies. Eventually, she left the Caribbean for the USA, where she married her “base-boy” Raymond whom she met while he was stationed in Trinidad. She would refer to her romance with Raymond as a fairy-tale “boy meets girl on tropical island” love-story.

When they moved to the US, they had three handsome sons, Mark, Michael, and Matthew. During her spare time, she taught conversational English to Syracuse University students. Ruby, such a kind and gentle creature, would entertain her international students at her home for Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.

Even while across the ocean, my sister would send me my Christmas box - a great big cardboard box - for which I waited with great anticipation. There was always, the “blue gum”, a gum that even today, my children love, that was only available in the States. Inside that box, there were also other American candies, potato chips, peanut butter, clothes, shoes, story books, and crafts. Ruby was a brilliant artist, enchanted by oil and canvas. She also took the time to write recipes on Caribbean Cuisine, depicting the magic of fire and rewrote Folklore of the Caribbean with artistic rendition.

Shortly after the birth of her third son, Ruby fell into the abyss of dark depression associated with a chemical imbalance. She struggled with depression for 6 long years, even living on the streets of New York City but when it seemed that all hope was lost, she found the right medication and the light turned back on! Once again, she lived in the simple magnificence of life and although she continued to struggle with bouts of depression throughout her life, I had my sister back. When I got married Ruby designed and sewed my wedding gown. In addition, a replica was fitted for my barbie doll, both of which are still cherished today, cushioned in a box of velvet.

My sister Ruby became the grandmother of my children. They would spend summer holidays with her, and I would delight in the photos of dress-up and their summer adventures on the Erie Canal. She called me every single day.

When I visited, I would smell the aroma of freshly baked bread from the bottom of the Braeside Lane driveway. Ruby, in her willingness to please and for her joy of giving, was sure to have a “present” awaiting me, wrapped of course, placed upon my bed. Fresh flowers would adorn the guest room. We would go for long walks in the sun and have poignant conversations, speaking of love and friendships, goals and memories. We would burst into deep, loud, hearty laughter of our crazy family antics. She would always say, “Happiness comes from within, it is not found, it’s created.”

I am happy that my sister and I created a mother-daughter love. It will be just that way to the end of time. Even though she no longer has the ability to carry on a conversation with me, she knows who I am, her papoose-baby, Vicenta.

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"Annie Are You Ok?" by Susan Owens

Homeade shirts and "Jams"

Happy 80th Birthday!

"Curried Chicken and Roti," shot by Mark Adams

"You are my Sunshine" by Vicenta Sartor

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