(Aunt Dina and Mom in younger years)
This morning in Church
we were asked to share a memory of our Mom in
honor of Mothers' Day. One of my
first memories is of being in the living room pretending to fly as I jumped
from the furniture. I am probably younger than four. I can hear Mom in the
kitchen singing as she does the laundry. I can smell the laundry soap and
bleach and hear the rhythm of the old washing machine beating the laundry
clean. (I can smell molasses cookies baking too, but when I told Mom about this
memory years ago she said it would not have been the same day).
This is the strongest
memory of my Mom? Surely I loved my mother for more than doing laundry and
making cookies? Then I realized--whether she was doing laundry, baking cookies,
finding a jam jar for the hundredth bouquet of limp dandelions, or holding the
bucket while I was sick—she was a constant presence. It is her presence that is the memory.
When she died it was
painful. Who do you turn to when the one you have always turned to is gone? In
the first few months I would reach for the phone to ask or tell her something.
When I drove home on the weekend and walked through the door—my heart would
strain to hear her footsteps in the kitchen or her voice calling out hello. I
missed the warmth of her touch.
When people came to
visit and offer sympathy to the family---everyone said the same things about
her-- whether they knew her as Sister,
Aunt, Friend, Neighbor, Jean, Jean-the-bean, or Mrs Ness. They spoke of her kindness and
patience, her gentle spirit and laughed about that little bit of mischief in
her. Even Dad as her husband and we as her children and grandchildren knew her
the same way. All of these relationships were very different, but her character
was obvious and constant throughout. What a blessing that was to me.
It has been almost
eight years since Mom died. After the grief lifted I realized she is still with
me, just differently. She is here in the results of her love and sharing her
faith in God. She is here--in the example she lived. She is here in the smiles
of family and friends. As her life was constant, so is her memory.
I love the picture you chose to accompany this entry, of "the girls" when they were younger. I have a similar picture of their older selves in which I believe they are dancing with one another... I'll have to see if I can find it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'll print a copy of this, with your permission, to give to Grammy although I know it will probably move her to tears even more quickly than it did me.
I's hard to believe its been that long since her passing. She is remembered with a warm smile and alot of love... <3
Thanks Sam...feel free to print whatever you want for Aunt Dina...I did give her a framed copy of the picture a few years ago. I wasn't sure if you meant the writing or the picture.
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