Grandmothers & Goddesses

Bonus Scene: Mother's Day

Mother's Day always involves a ritual in my family. Saturday night I had hardly been able to sleep. Tomorrow was Mother's Day and that meant it was time for the magic. It was one of the few times during the year that my grandmother's let me be involved in the magic that they had cast. This year would be incredibly special, I thought, I was changing. I was beginning to see and feel magic like I had not done so before. This year, maybe, I would see the magic my grandmothers worked.

I got out of bed before the sunrise and ran down the hallway into the bathroom. I showered so fast that the freezing water didn't even register. I still had some soap behind my ears as I toweled off and then ran in my robe back to my bedroom. My footsteps heavy on the wooden floors.

"Oy, Liebling." I heard my German grandmother's voice from her bedroom, "You sound like a herd of elephants!"

"Sorry Oma!" I called, and dashed into my bedroom. I flung open my closet and started going through my clothing. I found what I had called my "Ritual Clothing". It was a pair of white linen pants, and a matching tank top, with little pink ribbons threaded through the bodice. For some reason the loose clothing, and the lightness of the linen made me feel magical. My grandmothers had helped me pick out the outfit, and had told me to wear what I felt brought me closer to magic.

When I was dressed and my hair was combed and braided I ran out of my bedroom and upstairs and out onto our rooftop garden. My Russian grandmother and my mother were both there already. My mother rarely had time for magic. Mother's Day was one of the few days during the year that she made time for something other than her work. It wasn't that she didn't believe in magic, she did. After all she had grown up with my grandmothers for mothers but she just didn't have time for it. Magic wasn't practical, and my mother was empirically practical.

Pragmatic, she called herself. Stubborn, my grandmothers called her.

My mother was a tall naturally tan woman with bronze colored hair. Her hair was loose right now and she was dressed in a silk kimono done in brilliant black and gold colors. Her feet were bare but her toes painted a delicate pink. I ran up to her and hugged her as hard as I could. Her arms wrapped back around me and I was enveloped in both her warmth and the softness of her silk kimono. She murmured softly in my ear in her native language - Albanian.

"Të dua shumë, nënën." I whispered back to her, before pulling away. I felt like I was being bathed in love. I saw my grandmothers more than I saw my mother, but I never doubted her love for me.

I heard the rustle of clothing and turned to find my German grandmother had joined us as well. Like my mother she wore silk when she was doing her magic, but she wear loose trousers and quarter-sleeved top- both of which were in black. For a moment I saw a haze of blackness around my German grandmother. I saw a flicker of silver chains wrapped around her, but when I blinked they were gone.

I raised a hand to rub at my eyes and gave a small shake of my head.

I turned to look at my Russian grandmother and found her preparing the fire. She was dressed in simple linen like I was. Hers were in brilliant colors, however. Bright green and beautiful sea blue. They magic the colors that were swirling around her. Threads of silver woven through them like adornments. I blinked and the colors were gone once more. I shook my head to clear it and my mother reached out to ruffle my hair gently.