Many memories of Mom pop out on her day

BARBARA DIAMOND

Several years ago I cut my hand badly. When the doctor poured an

antiseptic in the wound, I was astonished to hear myself hiss, “Damn,

double damn, spit.”

The doctor couldn’t help grinning and said, “It’s OK, we have

heard a lot worse.”

Not really. That was my mother’s voice, my mother’s words,

reserved for only the most extreme trials, with far more impact than

my saltier epithets.

Another pet expression of hers was “behind the at,” her perennial

answer to my question “Where’s it at?’ She was obliquely trying to

teach me to say “Where is it?” She never ended a sentence with a

preposition and I am still not comfortable doing it, regardless of

what Churchill said.

My children remember me saying, “Just wait until your father gets

home.” I can’t believe I said that, but Paul and Kenny swore I did.

“A lot.”

Personally, I think they are delusional.

I do remember saying at every meal: “Sit up and eat like civilized

human beings.” And, of course, “Behind the at.”

I think of these things come May every year. It’s my way of

celebrating Mother’s Day.

Gayle Waite thinks of her mother saying, “I just want you to be

happy,” sometimes as a preface to “but,” before denying a request of

her daughter.

Artist Mark Fleming remembers his mother sitting him on a high

chair at a porcelain table when he was only about 3 and saying, “Draw

this. Draw that.”

When a painting of his was chosen for a festival T-shirt in 1999,

he sent the original to his mother with an inscription, “It’s all

your fault.”

What a Mother’s Day gift.

Toni Isemen’s mother taught her daughter to “pick your battles.”

Now how did she know her curly-headed cherub was going to grow up and

be elected a councilwoman in Laguna Beach, where pitched battles can

be fought over trimming a tree.

Chip Lydick got used to hearing his mother threaten: “You are

grounded for a month.” Dad Larry Lydick would just roll his eyes and

say, “Martha, you are not even going to ground him for a day.”

Cossie Mechling’s mother was not an early bird. She used to say,

“It’s morning; don’t talk.”

The sweetest music to Steve Kawaratani’s ears was his mother, a

great cook, announcing: “Dinner’s ready.”

He also remembers hearing every time he entered the house: “Don’t

forget to take off your shoes.”

“It wasn’t so much that she was a traditional Japanese -- she was

second-generation American -- but she had this beautiful gold

carpeting,” Kawaratani said.

He and his wife, Catharine Cooper, have continued the custom, to

protect the lovely hardwood floors in their Wendt Terrace home.

One of the goals of the National Charity League is to foster the

mother-daughter relationship. As members of the league, they work

together on community service projects and share social activities.

On Saturday, 21senior girls of the Laguna Beach chapter of the

league will pay tribute to their mothers at the annual membership

luncheon at the Ritz-Carlton.

Seven of the girls are from Laguna Beach or Emerald Bay: Devin

Tooma, Katherine Gordon, Meredith Nilsen, Jillian Rabago, Kelly

Roark, Shelley Smith and Correy Miller. Moms to be toasted are Marta

Tooma, Ellen Gordon, Carol Nilsen, Rochelle Rabago, Linda Roark,

Winni Smith and Debra Steele.

Listening to the girls describe what their mothers have meant to

them is a real Mother’s Day treat.

NOW PRESIDENT

Laguna Beach therapist and ordained minister Kimberly Salter was

elected President of California NOW.

Salter, a past president of the Laguna Beach Woman’s Club, has

been a member of NOW for 30 years, currently serving as treasurer.

She will take office June 1, along with a slate she endorsed.

“Everyone I wanted to win, won,” Salter said. “It is the first

time we had two complete slates. We campaign by slate, but we don’t

vote by slate.”

Salter said her slate was a “grass roots” group.

“The other slate was more politically focused,” Salter said. “Six

of the nine work in Sacramento. They are more one-issued. Ours was

more broad-brushed.”

While the women on Salter’s slate were all active in local NOW

issues, they ran the gamut in age. “The youngest is 19, I am 51,”

Salter said.

Salter served as president of the woman’s club from 2000 to 2003

and continues to serve on the board of directors.

“Kim has worked hard to get this NOW office,” said club board

member Anne Johnson. “This is where her passion is. She has kept NOW

a strong presence in Orange County for the past 10 years that I have

known her.”

WOMAN OF THE YEAR

The Laguna Beach Woman’s Club will honor former Councilwoman Ann

Christoph as the 2005 Woman of the Year at a luncheon set for June 3.

Christoph, a landscape architect who designed the distinguished

street medians in South Laguna, among other projects, has been

involved in city planning and government since South Laguna was

annexed.

She is an active member of the South Laguna Civic Association and

Village Laguna, devoted to the preservation of the qualities she

feels contribute to Laguna’s unique character.

Christoph served on the city’s 1993 Design Review Task Force,

participated in Vision Laguna 2030 as a member of the Community

Character-Place Committee and wrote a master plan for street

landscaping.

Before annexation, Christoph helped create the South Laguna

Specific Plan.

In her professional capacity, Christoph designed the landscape for

the woman’s club and Alta Laguna Park and the renovation of Bluebird

Park.

The luncheon in Christoph’s honor will be catered by Tivoli Too!

at the clubhouse, 286 St. Ann’s Drive. Club member Carol Reynolds

will entertain at the piano

Admission is $25, payable in advance or at the door if seats are

still available. For reservations, call (949) 497-1200.

* OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature of the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box

248, Laguna Beach, 92652; hand-deliver to Suite 222 in the

Lumberyard, 384 Forest Ave. or call (949) 494-4321 or fax (949)

494-8979.