Honoring our Mothers

[ali1257]

Kathleen...thanks for sharing. You echo a lot of my upbringing as well and that is why I struggle so with Mother's Day and also Father's Day...lots of abuse in our lives growing up.

I am just so thankful that I was able to turn my life so that my children did not have deal with so many of the things that I had to growing up.

I hope your children remebered you on Mother's Day...I know I enjoyed talking with both of my sons yesterday. it made my day bright.

[AlmostThere]

My memories of my Mother is one who was busy 24/7 with helping my Dad run a 450 acre farm and raising 9 kids. With me being #8, I didn't get much physical love from her. As a child, I have no recollection of her ever hugging or kissing me, nor saying she loved me. She NEVER used any verbal affirmation. As an adult I can now understand that she was mimicking the same way she was raised, but as a child I never felt worthy. Funny how those things carry over generation to generation. Although I tried being more physically loving with my kids, I'm now finding out I failed miserably with the affirmation part, too. My daughter and I have been working hard in mending our relationship, but I'm sad her childhood memories can't be changed.

Yesterday I packed up some food and drove up to her home and I spent the day playing games with her and her family (something we and her family both love), and then we cooked a meal together. It was one of the most wonderful days I can remember having with her. This AM I got a text from her and she said, "Thanks for a great day yesterday, Mom. I love you". How blessed am I?

[ali1257]

Happy for you Lenora about yesterday.

[Irmi]

I spent part of Saturday with my parents. Mom & Dad came from Germany in 1952 following WW2 to try to make a better life for themselves in the U.S. I'm the second child of 5 and we were brought up very strict. My parents spent the bulk of their time starting & running the business that I still work for. They brought us up the same way they were raised, showing little love, but they are trying to make up for that now.

[Echo]

April 1924
to
January 1994

I was very, very lucky in that I had great parents. Mom only had her Mother for 8yrs before she passed then had a very cold unloving step mother and a stern disciplinarian for a father. But in those first 8yrs of my Mother's life she must have been shown a tremendous amount of love because she certainly knew how to show love to not just us kids but to everyone who passed thru her life. My Dad always said that Mom taught him how to love and to show love!

Both parents instilled love, honesty, faithfulness, integrity, work ethic and compassion in my life.

Mom would camp out on the front porch with me, have snowball fights with me, build snowmen, sing to me, (oh boy) build in home tents with blankets and chairs and then she would make us a 'picnic' to eat in the tent, she taught me the joy of reading, taught me to perfectly iron a man's dress shirt as good as any pro laundry, drove me crazy with never putting pot and pans back in the same place twice, laughed with me and at me, cried with me and for me way to many times to count, taught the joy of flower gardening, I could go on and on..... Of all the memories the most prominent one is going for a walk during the first good snowstorm of the season. We would walk uptown and go window shopping and in JJ Newbury's we would have cocoa. Then she would call Dad to come pick up up and we would go to a restaurant called Patsy's and have an Italian supper.

Mom was quick to dust my britches when I did something wrong or disobeyed. But she was even quicker to show love and pride in my accomplishments.

She was an awesome Grandmother. Both my kids adored her and David thought she could walk on water.

Never bought my Mother cut flowers for Mother's Day. If there wasn't something that I could go out and pick, it was always something growing whether an indoor house plant or something she could plant outside. The last item I bought was a Tea Rose bush in a salmon color. After she and Dad both died and the house was to be sold I dug that rose bush up and took it to TN with me and transplanted it. No matter what I did or tried to do with that bush I could not save it. It slowly faded away and died. I cried harder over than bush than I did at Mom's funeral. Sounds funny, huh? But we knew that Mom was dying and when she did it was a welcome release for her and the family to know that she was not in pain any more. But that rose bush dying brought forth all the grief and anguish I had been holding inside.

When I was little I use to dream of being her flower girl while waiting for her and Dad to get married. It finally happened Nov 7, 1993 but by then I had to be her matron of honor. It was my honor to stand with my parents when they finally got married the day before I turned 39.

17yrs since Mom passed over and I miss her voice and touch each and every day. And even tho I didn't like her perfume? I miss that too.