Happy Mother's Day Olga

Didn't get a chance to post yesterday, but I've decided to post now, what the heck. Here's an image of my mom that I located. It has to be from the 1980's or 1990's I would imagine.  My mom loved angels and in this photo, she looked like one.  She has been among them now for almost 2 years.  In her last interview given a few months before she passed, she said the following:

Pero siempre le digo a mi hijo una cosa, cuando tú caminas detrás de ti está Dios, pero detrás de Dios estoy yo, donde quiera que vayas. Ahí estamos las mamitas detrás de los hijos siempre, aunque no estemos presentes.

Her words say it all as far as I'm concerned.  So as I spend my last remaining hours of my most recent trip around the sun,  I know that not far behind, there she'll be watching over me as she did when I began my first trip around the sun.

Olga Diaz Comes to America

I am really amazed by the Google historic newspaper archive. I was able to find the article published in the old Miami News in June 1958 when my mom, Olga Diaz, came to the United States as a winner in a flag design contest for the Festival of the Americas.  It's interesting reading what was in the news that day.  She ended up staying here (as it was too dangerous to return home) which in turn allowed her to bring everyone out when folks were no longer able to leave Cuba just a few years later.  The byline was the "Cuban Betsy Ross."  I'd love to get an actual copy of her picture here, but as this newspaper has been out of print for years,  I have no idea where to begin. 

If you click on the paper, you can read the articles.  My mom always got a kick seeing herself referred to as the "Latin Beauty" when I showed her a copy of this front page that I made in the 1980's while a college student from the microfilm archives. Remember microfilm?  It would be nice if all these old historic newspapers can be scanned and put online for all of us to see. It's kind of cool having a newspaper article documenting your mother's first trip to the United States.

Happy Birthday Olga - First Birthday in Heaven

Today would have been my mom's birthday. This is the first year I celebrate it without her. Many miss her music, and her joyfulness, and her laughter and humor. I do too. But I can't tell you how much I miss talking to her and hearing her words and her motherly advice and wisdom that she gave me until the end.

I know in her way she is there watching over me and her grandchildren along with my dad. When our mothers pass on, I think they become our guardian angels to watch over us and protect us from harm and to help guide us in difficult times.

She is enjoying her first birthday party in Heaven. I'm sure she and her friends will be having a wonderful time with plenty of music and laughter. Some of it will be heard here on Earth. I am hearing it now.

Love you always ...

Your Son Michael