Mia Handelsman
My Mother and Me, 2021
Acrylic paint, plaster cloth, gesso, glue, canvas
30 x 40 x 5 inches
Things I love about my mom…
How we can have a whole conversation without even speaking.
When she wakes me up in the morning by putting my dogs on my bed.
How when she takes me and my siblings to Disneyland and waits in the next line for us while we are on a ride she doesn't want to go on.
Playing backgammon with her.
When I think I'm just in a bad mood but she knows I'm actually just hungry.
Her hugs.
That when I stopped eating meat, she did too.
That she makes me tea in the morning when I’m too sleepy to make it myself.
How she decided to go back to school about 35 years later after she graduated college to get her masters degree and become a therapist.
The way she cuts an orange.
How wherever I drive somewhere she always says “text me when you get there” before I leave.
When we go to Souplantation and she puts rainbow sprinkles on her vanilla ice cream.
Her smile.
How she knows what I want to eat when I don’t even know what I want to eat.
When she calls a traffic light a robot, a cantaloup a spanspek, or a gas station a garage.
That when I stopped eating meat, she spent countless hours figuring out how to make my favorite food (spaghetti turkey bolognese) vegetarian - she did and it's very delicious.
How much she loves dogs, especially our dogs.
She taught me how to fold a fitted sheet.
How brave she was when she got sick.
That she sent me letters almost every day while I was at sleep away camp.
Her accent.
When we are doing a jigsaw puzzle, she always lets me put in the last piece.
That she loves Taylor Swift’s album Folklore.
How she fell in love and got engaged to my dad after knowing him for just two weeks.
That she loved taking me and my friends to Disneyland when she didn’t even get to go on any rides because my brother needed her help on the phone all day.
That I have her nose.
She taught me how to drive a car.
That she would bring me to my jewish elementary school late on a Monday so I could skip the morning services.
How she bakes a chiffon cake every year for each person in my family’s birthday.
That every November we bake gingerbread cookies with Star Wars cookie cutters.
How she didn’t think she wanted kids until after she married my dad.
When we are on a long flight, she lets me lay on her lap and my seat to sleep.
That she orders the kids cheese pizza with the gluten free crust at California Pizza Kitchen.
How she loves me unconditionally.
Click images to enlarge.
