39. Mara

As a mom, efficiency was my watchword. And one way to save tons of time in my hectic mom-day was for all socks to be the same. Can you imagine how much time it would take If I had to pair-up all my children’s socks? So all Mara’s socks were exactly the same. After I did the laundry, I’d throw all 100 exactly-the-same white socks in the sock drawer, and Mara would pick out any two, and we were ready to go. That’s brilliant, am I right?

Unfortunately Mara had other ideas. Colorful ideas. Un-efficient ideas. She wanted DIFFERENT kinds of socks. Not just white. Colors, patterns, variety.  I told her I would buy them, but I would not match them. She would just have to manage that enormous task on her own.

And manage it she did, in a way I never saw coming. Four-year-old Mara decided her socks didn’t HAVE to match. She would blithely pick any two non-matching socks and wear them. This was long before the non-matching socks craze. In fact, I’m pretty sure Mara started that whole fad.

So why am I telling you about Mara and her socks? Because that whole story is just so MARA. She is an independent thinker. She is colorful. She doesn’t want to go along with the crowd. She wants to think about what is important to her and do that.

Mara has moved on from socks. She is happily living in Maynard, Massachusetts because she loves New England and decided to move there. She’s had jobs doing homeless outreach and working on a farm and caring for the elderly. She is an amazing writer and poet. And she has a wicked sense of humor and she’s a little bit sassy!

Mara leads with her heart. She cares about people. And she wants to make a difference.

And she is one of the people I like to be with most in the world.

Today is Mara’s birthday and she is 26 years old. Happy birthday my girl. You are an amazing person.