My Mom passed away on New Years Day 2005 after a year long battle with cancer. We buried her in St. Johns Cemetery in Middle Village on Jan 5th, 2005. This somewhat ordinary view of the Salvation Armys parking lot on the east side of Cypress Hills Street at 70th Avenue (just below junction with Fresh Pond Road) is _VERY_ special to me. In 1961 we moved to Cooper Avenue in Glendale to escape the decline of Brooklyns East New York neighborhood where we originally settled in 1957 after emigrating to the USA from Austria with virtually nothing . To supplement the family income, my mother found work as a cleaning woman at night , doing offices at prestigious 20 Broad Street law firms in Manhattans Financial District . She left for work every Monday thru Friday at 4:30 PM, before my Dad got home from his day job, and she did not get home until 12:30 AM midnight, sometimes even later, often in freezing rains, heavy winter snow & ice and bitter midnight cold. She did this for 30 years (1957-1988) until she retired. When we first moved to Glendale, I did not know anyone and was rather shy, a typical insecure young teenager. I often came to this parking lot after school to shoot hoops by myself, too shy & intimidated by the crowd at Farmers Oval or P.S. 68. Im amazed that the half-moon basketball hoop at the far end of the building is still there. And it was from here that I would see my dear mother come trekking up this sidewalk from our Cooper Avenue apartment on the other side of Myrtle Ave, on her way to the Fresh Pond Road El station to go to work. We would wave and call out to each other. Be good! she always said. {sob}{sniff} I was no saint, struggled academically in school, but neither was I bad - just your normal average kid. To turn out bad would have broken my poor mothers heart and made all of my parents sacrifices and hard work meaningless. My Dad (+RIP) could be demanding and impatient when we didnt meet his expectations but all my Mom -a kind & gentle people person who did not have an easy life (God bless her) - ever asked of us is that we be good and do your best.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 15:48:26 +0000
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