90 Years Ago

Ahh!  Do you ever get over missing your parents?  Mama would have been 90 today.  She died at 84; 6 years ago and I still miss her every day.

About this time of the year when I am thinking about what to get my first born for her birthday which was yesterday, I always think about what I would have bought for mom.  I think back on that day before mom's birthday 35 years ago and feel giving her another grandbaby (her 8th out of 10) was an excellent gift.  (Now that I am a grandmother, I realize how special that was for her.  I'm sure if I ever have 8 or 2, I will be thrilled.   It doesn't even have to be close to my own birthday!)

But I remember telling mom that Sunday morning after a long night of labor and finally delivering that sweet little 8 lb baby that I wished they would have been born on the same day.  But what I really meant and said was I wished mom had been born on the 22nd instead of the 23rd because I didn't want to go through that experience again. (And I didn't--until 2 years later!) No words or advice about labor and delivery mean a darn thing until you go through it!  And then you forget, I guess.

A new grandchild was a special gift.  But mom gave us all many, many gifts.  Most importantly, she gave us the gift of life and taught us how to live it.

She was a strong woman; she raised 4 children while dad's job required him to travel often six days a week.  She kept the family fires going; she actually cooked us hot breakfasts each morning, packed lunches for us if we wanted them; she cooked dinner every night (no drive-throughs or take-outs--how did she do it?) and had us all cleaning up the kitchen afterwards  (no dishwashers at that time).  She made us girls beautiful outfits; she taught us how to iron (yuck); she instilled in us a love and respect for each other (yay); she taught us to say our prayers and to say, "I love you."

She praised us (double yay).  I still remember how she and my sister's wonderful husband would always talk about how pretty my sister was--and still is.  "She's such a pretty girl," one or the other would say!  She led us by example.

Oh, yeah, she was a disciplinarian as well.  Okay, some of us needed it more than others, but the lessons were learned.  She was able to get us all to work together and get our chores done.  Sometimes the chores were put in a jar and we "got" to draw the chore out.  Then when we got that one done--guess what?  We got to draw another chore.  I must admit I didn't think that was such a fun game, but she got it to work.

When I tried it on my own family, somehow I think I ended up not only drawing out the chores but doing them as well.  Like I said, she was amazing and as one of my sisters has stated she could have managed any company of any size. I agree. 

And she was funny.  She would tell us stories of her and daddy "courting" and how she "chased him til he caught her!"  She was fun.  She was known to do some pranks on us and on some of her friends.  She and a friend made matching baby outfits for Halloween to go trick or treating on another crazy friend.  She had me believe one April Fool's day that an outfit she was ironing for me to wear that day had a hole in it.  Oh how sad I was but confused because I couldn't see it!


She loved her husband and her family dearly.  On her and dad's sixtieth anniversary, my brother described her perfectly when he said in part, "From my mom I learned how to love unconditionally..."
She did; he does; all her children do.  We all received that gift from her.  What a gift!  What a woman!  What a mother!

There have been way too many wagon loads of day gone by since she was here with us.

I miss her.

Leta