The Saturday of Mother's Day Weekend

 

from Gary

Mother's Day weekend is here but like my birthday, the observance commenced before the actual date on the calendar. 

left to right: The Lil' Red-haired Girl, the mule, and Jr.

It began when Jr. (that's my son with a wife, 2 cats, and a mule -- yes!!) texted on Tuesday to set up a FaceTime visit on Mother's Day afternoon. A day or two after that, the postman delivered an envelope from the same son. I saved it to open on Sunday. 😉

Jr. was fighting a stomach bug.. In telling me about that, he remembered times when he would be sick as a little boy and how I would take care of him. He said he was grateful. That was a loooong time ago. I am grateful that he remembered.

Gary went to get a haircut on Thursday and came back with an armload of flowers and a plastic box with 2 Apple Fritters. (our habit is when one or both of us go to Publix, we always check the bakery tables for our favorite chocolate eclair donuts. This time they were out, so Apple Fritters were the delicious Plan B.) While he and I have not produced any children together, he still chose to honor me with the flowers. ❤️

Rice Krispy Treats

Recently I mentioned making Rice Krispy Treats for Gary. At least two of my readers commented that they like to include peanut butter and/or chocolate chips to make this delight even better. So this past week I made more, substituting creamy peanut butter for some of the butter. Oh yeah, this was a hit!

On Friday afternoon our doorbell rang. When I pulled the door open, nobody was there, but this delightful package of chocolate-covered strawberries had been left -- addressed to me!! Our kids on Gary's side had sent them. I'm just their step-mom, and yet they showed me this kindness! ❤️

They are delicious and disappearing fast. Need I say more?

This is a good time to share some of my family photos and "mom memories." Some of these pictures I've posted before. Here is my mother:

Mama

Taken in 2015 for the pictorial directory at her church, the year she turned 90, she had maintained her good looks and beautiful hair. As we are aging, both Sister and I have chosen to not color our hair in part, because Mama's softly graying hair was so beautiful clear up to the day she was ushered into Heaven in 2024.

Left to right: me, Mama, and Sister

I know I've posted this snapshot before. It was taken when I was 7 or 8 years old. I always smile to see the skinny sticks sister and I had for legs in those days! I'm pretty sure we are dressed in our Easter clothes. This was in upstate New York. 

Having been uprooted from Tulsa, Oklahoma to New York City, the move was a big culture shock to all, especially my mother. Daddy was a co-pilot with American Airlines at the time. The move to New York City was his first assignment, but after only 3 months, he secured a transfer from La Guardia to Buffalo. The big changes of these relocations were a little easier to bear for my mother after that, but there was still all that snow to shovel! ⛄️

Regarding the cultural shock from Oklahoma to New York in the mid-1950s, that first year I went to 2 different elementary schools. In both of them, there came a day when the stress of adjustment and just being in school all day proved too much for me. I upchucked my breakfast on two different occasions right there in the class room, thoroughly soiling my clothes! Both times the school nurse called my mother to come get me. She brought me clean clothes and took me home.

The first time, she had to walk to the school and walk me home because we had only one car at the time and it was at the airport parking lot. 

I don't remember for sure about the second barfing episode. I think by then Mama and Daddy had figured out that in spite of the distance from our house to the airport, it was preferable for her to keep the car when he was flying. 

Another memory I have of my mother was that on extremely short-notice, she had to homeschool me. In the first 3 months of class in my first school in NYC, reading instruction had not begun. But when we got to the second school, that class was well ahead and I was woefully behind! 

My teacher gave Mama the materials and the instructions how to get me started at home. Christmas break from school that year was a very stressful time for both of us as we bumbled through our new teacher-student relationship. I am thankful my mother took up this task when she felt very unprepared and would have rather focused on a lot of other things during the Christmas season.

Mama and my Staff

On a very cheerful note, my mother loved pretty things and had a wonderful imagination. She enjoyed our dolls and playing pretend. I held onto my love of dolls well into adulthood. My long-time readers know about my "Staff." I used to write about them on my blog. When we drove from Colorado to Illinois to visit Mama, she enjoyed it when I brought my staff with me and played along with the fun.

In my school-girl years, Mama taught me to sew my clothes. In adulthood that skill moved to making doll clothes for my daughter's dolls and later for my granddaughters' dolls. I also made many, many quilts. It was my pleasure to teach my mother how to sew a quilt on one of her visits to see me!

Of my staff pictured above, I sewed clothing for all of them, and even created for myself Mandy Sue (wearing the rose-colored sun glasses) and Eaves Dropping (the smallest doll wearing a newspaper Yankee Doodle hat. She was the newspaper columnist, hence the hat.)

me with my 3 adult children, their spouses,
and a total of 11 grandchildren; 
photo taken the day of my late husband's funeral in 2020
(Note: the shortest people are now much taller!)

If you were to ask me, I would tell you that in my opinion, motherhood is the hardest job in the world. Of course, I am biased, and many women have more reasons upon which to make that statement than I do. But when taken seriously as a god-given assignment, it's very challenging.

My children (and their spouses) all turned out well, thanks to the Lord, but parenthood is not for the faint of heart. Joys, as well as the unexpected, make up this assignment. Some of us just feel like we are "winging it" most of the time. 

Motherhood kept me on my knees and I'm still in that humble position now that some of my grandchildren are well into adulthood. Even when they "leave and cleave" in their own marriages, emotional strings are still there.

neighborhood flyer

A couple of days ago was The National Day of Prayer. It was my privilege to participate in the observance here in my +55 community where we prayed for families, churches, government, the workplace, education, military and first responders, the arts and media, and our county. 

souvenir sticker given out
for the National Day of Prayer

On this Mother's Day weekend, may we all continue to pray for these needs as well as for ourselves. We just can't do life without the Lord's help.

Until next time, grace and peace.

Barbara