About mothers

My visit with my sister, Debbie, who also grew up in Runnemede and left a few years after I did, has been a blessing. We've talked a lot about our own mother, and this has led me to some deep thoughts about motherhood.


Here goes: God not only gave us our mothers, but He gave our mothers us to nurture and bring up. I was thinking about teenagers and how much they don't like their moms. I was one such person. In fact, I didn't know any teens who really liked their mothers back when I was growing up.

I mean, we had curfews, we HAD to go to church on Sunday and any other time the church doors were open, we had to do our homework, had to get good grades, had to get married -- whoops! Not all of us got married. Well, not as soon as our mother's would have liked, I think.

Of course mothers want their daughters to marry. And back when I was growing up, our mothers prepared us for being wives first, mothers second.

Anyway, I was thinking about the after-teenage years and how I came to appreciate my mother. And today God reminded me that even though I was a gift from Him to my mother. In return, my mother was His gift to me. And what a gift she was.

Thank you Grandmother Santa for the God-life you breathed into my mother Rose, that she passed on to me.

ttfn

Going to bed routine

When I was a child, there was a routine before going to bed. And, I suppose most parents have a routine for putting their child(ren) to bed. I know Alan and I did. But this isn't about Alan's and my routine. This is about my mother's routine. My father was most often not home at bed-time because he was either at a church meeting, or a board meeting, or a Bible School teaching session.

(the picture is not of any family member).

When we were getting ready for bed, of course we had to be washed (bathing was only permitted on Saturday night -- I wrote about that before). If we were dirty we got a thorough cleansing, including the feet and ears and hair. Then we had to brush our teeth. I used to just suck the toothpaste off the toothbrush and call it a day. Then mom would have us kneel beside the bed and say our prayer -- always starting with:

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep,

If I should die before I wake,

I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen.

The would follow the God blesses -- God bless mommy and daddy, Debby, Markie, Diddle, Aunt Annie, Uncle Joe, Aunt Rita, Uncle Joe, Aunt Francis, Uncle Howard, and God bless the missionaries. Amen.

Noticeably missing from the "God blesses" was the cousins. Hmmm.

I don't recall any stories being read or told to me, but I do recall mom quoting some scripture each evening.

Sometimes the God blesses included one of my friends, but usually I was in a hurry to get between the sheets and get my goodnight kiss and hug from mom. She really did smell good. I remember her smelling of roses. And she was always smiling.

So, I now pray that God will bless those who read this BLOG in some way.

More on my mom

I was writing a comment in my niece's BLOG today and it occurred to me that I never talked about how easy my mom made being a mother seem. I don't recall that she was ever harried, rushed, out-of-control, etc. She always seems to just ease into everything.

I think that's a wonderful thing to remember about my mother, or any mother. I only remember the one thing that caused my mom to be out of sorts and that was her headaches. To my sister and my daughters and to myself, who have suffered from migraines, I wonder now how she did it. She didn't show us that she was down and out. Daddy took over for her. He would put her in their room, darken it, and give her some pills, believing that the pills would work in two minutes. He did the same for me when I got migraines. In a short time, she would be well enough to be our mother again. She never missed a meal or a church service or anything because of a headache.

I remember her throwing up, then feeling fine. Yes, that's how you get out of a migraine headache -- at least in our family -- if you could bring yourself to throw up you would feel fine. But who wants to throw up? I could never gag myself to relieve myself of the headaches. I'd just suffer. How I thank God that I don't get them any more. Now, I spend time praying for those who do. My sister, my nephew, Jake, my daughters, Becky and Cyndi.

So, here's to you mom. You were so quiet and unassuming, and it seemed that nothing bothered you. You handled four children like it was something you had done all your life prior to the four children. And how I wish I had expressed to you while you were with us, how much I appreciated that. Someday I'll tell you.