Columbus Day

Despite the bank and postal holiday we observed on Monday, today, October 12, is the real Columbus Day. It's the date I learned in school, and that was forever sealed in my mind because October 12 was also my mother's birthday.

Like these Canada Geese I photographed over the Mississippi River flyway last January, Columbus was a person with far to go. Maybe he was a Thursday's Child, too. Even though the part of my ancestors who were native Americans suffered greatly as a result of Columbus' travels and landings in the New World, I can't help but have some admiration for those explorers of the 15th and 16th centuries who braved incredible hardships just to prove a point about a passage to the Far East or the existence of treasure. The bad part came later--imperialism, conquest, smallpox, suffering, political deals, and all that. In the Columbus Days of my childhood, three small ships set sail across forbidding seas carrying men who wanted to cross just because "it was there."

I always thought it was cool that Mother had such a famous birthday, but she didn't have much use for the exploits of Columbus, or for celebrating her own special day. But the date never comes around without me calculating her age if she had lived past 1998--this year she would have been 92. Happy Birthday, Frances Elizabeth McElyea Burch. Thank you for giving me my start in life, on a Thursday, no less. These flowers are for you.