Mom

Some things I remember about my Mom...

1. She was an awesome cook- I mean down home, stick of butter, spoonful of lard, never need a recipe kind of cook. Her best thing- made from scratch Banana Pudding with meringue.
2. She was a hard worker. She was the oldest of five and grew up on a farm. My mother never seemed to stop. Even when she wasn't feeling well, she was up and going.
3. She had some money sense. My dad was a ticket agent for Greyhound Bus Lines and my mom kept children in our home until she went to work at WalMart when I was a junior in high school. They didn't make a lot of money and could have easily got themselves in to debt. My dad was out of work frequently - Greyhound would strike and he also had some major illnesses. My mom took care of all of the finances. Now we didn't have a lot growing up but we had what we needed and she NEVER had a credit card and the only loan she had was her house which she paid off 10 years ago. She would have been all over the CVS deal.
   
4. She was not a girly girl. My mom didn't wear makeup and she rarely wore a dress. She didn't use perfume and really didn't wear any jewelry other than her wedding rings. Talk about a nightmare to buy for- I really had to use my brain for Christmas, Birthday and Mother's Day gifts. Oh and she thought flowers were a waste of money because they would wilt and die. My dad had a pretty tough time getting a gift for her too.
   
5. She loved Yahtzee. We played all kinds of board games growing up but Yahtzee was her favorite. I don't know if there is any skill to the game but if there was, she had it.
6. She always bought in bulk. I kid you not- had there been some kind of natural disaster or a nuclear war, my mom could have fed 50 people for months just on the canned and dried foods she had stocked up.
7. She was talented. For years she made ceramics. She had her own kiln in our laundry room. She made me a Hollie Hobby lamp and she made my friend in elementary school- Papa Smurf and Smurfette (my friend LOVED the smurfs).
   
8. She loved my husband. People in my family married young so when I went off to college and then still didn't get married after I got my degree, she and the rest of her family had pegged me as an old maid. I mean come on I was all of 24 and not married!! Then my husband came along and honestly I think she thought, thank goodness. LOL!! Seriously, she treated him like he was one of her own and he loved her deeply.
9. She was a small town girl. She was born and raised for the most part in Hartsville, TN. She DID NOT like to drive on the interstate. When Jim and I moved back from North Carolina and moved to Lavergne, TN- she would NOT take the interstate. So from Madison all the way to Lavergne, she took the back roads- yeah you can get from there to there without getting on the interstate. It would take her over an hour and a half!! She didn't come to visit very often when we lived there.
10. She loved me.

I wanted to post this for Mothers Day and knew if I didn't do it today I might not get to it. There are many other things I remember about my mom. Sometimes even now its still unbelievable to me that I am somebody's mother. I hope when Avery and Aidan are grown that they will look back and remember their childhood fondly and know that above all else they are loved. What do you remember about your mom growing up?
Happy Mothers Day to all you mommies!!