This sketch has been making me chuckle for decades.
When I was in college, my mother worked at Zales jewelry store. I always knew that she was good at her job selling jewelry, but it wasn’t until recently while going through her papers that I found out just how good. I discovered that she was among the top three sales people in her region for several years in a row and she received awards for her accomplishments. She also received quite a few complimentary letters from happy customers. Mom used to tell me that she could never sell just any piece of jewelry; she took great joy in helping customers find the right piece for them or a gift for a wife, husband, mother. I was amazed to come across copies of all her sales receipts – stacks and stacks of them, which she held on to all these years.
One of Mom’s co-workers, Fernando, was a talented artist. He and my mother shared a dry sense of humor and when they worked together he used to draw funny sketches such as the one above. Fernando really knew my mother and this sketch humorously reflects Mom’s interest in her daughter finding the “right man” (and I finally did!). I love that he’s depicted her in the vintage 1930s brown suit that she often wore to work. There’s no mistaking that’s Mom for sure because she’s sporting her signature pageboy hairstyle.
My heart leaps every time I unexpectedly see my mother’s handwriting – I hear her voice coming from the words on paper. “Love, Mom” on the righthand corner of Fernando’s sketch feels like another Valentine from Mom from afar.
Here’s to the special affection between mother and daughter.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
OverDressed for Life 