Sheila the sis

I have never been able to get excited about Mother's Day, for reasons which I know are obvious to just about everyone who knows me even reasonably well. As I have observed on this blog and elsewhere, the phrase "mother's love" is, to me, an oxymoron. But I rejoice for the myriads of people who, fortunately for them and for the world in general, will never have to say that.

One of those individuals is my niece Jenny, of whom I am extremely fond. She wrote this Mother's Day tribute to her own mother, my sister Sheila, who came to Arizona to visit us a couple of months ago. My favorite story about Sheila is related here by Jenny; it's about the time she decked a boy for bullying her, thereby ending forever that particular childhood trauma of hers. I have repeated that tale countless times over the years, always with a mixture of wonder and amusement. Until today, however, I did not know that she had once been named Miss Congeniality in a beauty contest, although that comes as no surprise to me.

So tonight I post the link to Jenny's tribute, hoping that my readers will find it as amusing and entertaining as I have. (The accompanying photo, by the way, was taken by me when Sheila visited us back in March. It made the Explore page on Flickr.)