Remembering Mama. . .

Audra Lembertas wrote these words in memory of her mother, Dana Daukantas-Lembertas, who passed away March 19, 1999 in Santa Monica, California. Ale Ruta Arbas sent Audra’s touching tribute to BRIDGES.

My mother was beautiful. My mother was funny. My mother was the type of person who would, good-naturedly, give my boyfriends a kick in the pants, literally, when they came to call just to break the ice. My girlfriends would often end up chatting with my mom when they called on the phone, because I had a "fun" mom: one who could write school plays, give advice about boys, one who always had something interesting and exciting to say.

This is not to say my mother was a casual mother. She took her job of forming and raising us very seriously. Intellectually, morally, psychologically, and culturally – all aspects of our growth were carefully tended and never, ever one at the expense of another. The bottom line was that we were loved, and if we failed to reach a goal or aspiration, we were loved just as much.

It was in large part my mother's longstanding fascination with nutrition and vitamin therapy that led to my interest in nutritional biochemistry, which culminated in my receiving first my bachelor’s degree, and then my doctoral degree in biochemistry. She always let me know she was proud of me, but without pressure to live up to any expectation. If I wanted to pursue a professional career, that was terrific. If I wanted to put it all aside and devote myself to something else, that would have been wonderful, too.

My mother was a very proud grandma. She was eager to tell anyone that she had four grandchildren. My mother was a unique grandma, who wore long earrings and perfume on the golf course, yet could drive the ball 250 yards down the green in a single stroke. . .

My mother was very brave. When she first learned that she was ill in 1993, she did not make a fuss. She found out what needed to be done and did it without complaint. She was a source of inspiration in her patient’s support group -- lifting the spirits of other women in her same situation who could not bear what lay before them. Yet through it all, she called no attention to herself, preferring that she and those around her go on about the business of living, rather than mope about the possibility of dying. When she relapsed in 1997, she resolutely faced the doctors again, without publicity or complaint, and traveled to Lithuania only a month after her treatments. She continued to enjoy dancing and golfing and being a grandma until the disease overtook her a third and final time.

Her life is now a book with the chapter on old age left unwritten. She taught us and loved us as best she could in the time, which she was allotted. Let us honor her memory by the excitement, which we bring to our living, by our dedication to our children, and by our faith in God and providence in the face of adversity.