I’ve been thinking about this posting for a couple of weeks. I wasn’t
sure I wanted to do it, but the idea kept swirling through my mind. Sorry dear
readers, I should have simply posted something else while I pondered.
Mothers, we all have one. Below are some thoughts on mine. We always
hear talks and read articles about the wonderful things mothers do, and they
are true, but mothers just like everyone else have flaws. Here are some ways I
tried to emulate my mother, and some ways I did not.
She always said, “If you’re going to steal, you just as well steal
$1,000 as a dime. One is just as wrong as the other. Stealing is stealing.”
That’s very true.
Even though my dad deserted the family, and left a huge gambling debt,
the only thing she said about him was, “He was a little boy that never grew
up.” The facts spoke for themselves. No need to bash him to us children. I have
tried to apply that principle to all people around me.
When angry, she sometimes she yelled for an hour or two bringing up
everything she could remember I had done wrong in the recent past. When she was
little she had to go out and get her own willow switch for her parents to use.
She made progress. Sorry to say, I used to yell at my children. It was the only
way I knew to be firm. It took watching the patience of a neighbor when her
little boy refused to put on his shoes to see there was a different way. With
my yelling I stuck to the offense at hand, and didn’t rail on and on for a
lengthy time. Each generation did better than the one before. As I watch my
children, they do much better in this area than I did. That’s what life is for.
As a newlywed, I was determined not to use the same laundry soap she
said was the best. For years I tried this and that, most of them are no longer
on the market. One day I ran out, and borrowed some from a friend. It happened
to be Mom’s brand. To my dismay, I saw a slight difference in a particular
nightgown in favor of Mom’s brand (it wasn’t as dingy) among other items. I
didn’t like the fact that she was right, but I still use her brand. Sometimes
maturity means accepting that sometimes Mother was right. Other times, we can
find a better way, and it’s better to move on and do things differently.
Mom always taught me to appreciate beauty around me. We lived in the
mountains, she was always sure to point out how beautiful the lights below were
while driving up or down at night for one example. I try to look for beauty
around me.
She was always ready with a helping hand. She taught me to sew. Not
always with patience, but she persevered, and I appreciate having that skill.
She insisted I take typing in high school so I could fall back on
secretarial skills if I had to when I was an adult. Who knew back then how
important being able to use a keyboard would be in this day and age.
Sometimes she isn’t right or wrong, we simply have different ideas. An
example of that is with bubble bath. We used to get boxes with little packets
that were meant for one use. She always insisted we only use half; therefore we
didn’t have as many bubbles. I would have preferred using the whole thing in
one bath then use plain water the next time. Both ways saved the same amount of
money in a different way.
I could go on and on about her weird ideas, like the day in 1960 that I
was supposed to keep my eye out for the flying saucers that were coming that
day. I was to get on, because she was going to, and we could meet up later.
(No, I didn’t make that up!)
When I do something that isn’t perfect, I say to myself, “That isn’t a
Mom job.” That’s okay. I don’t make Halloween costumes as well as I do a formal
or wedding dress. Both are made for one day use. I’m not a full blown believer
in the adage: If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. Sometimes
things are worth doing as well as they are worth doing. Time is a fleeting
thing.
This is just a small sampling, I could go on and on, but you don’t want
to read a novel on my blog.
You may think this is odd timing for a piece on my mother, but her
birthday was January 1.
