Lately I have been asked for advice. What I thought would never happened, happened. Almost every single time, I quoted my Mother. Yes, her words are still the best advice one can give. Also, I have been telling my granddaughters about my Mother; describing her wisdom, her humor, her love of music and dancing, and how she handled all seven of her children so that when they grew up, it was her they quoted, her advice they gave out and her love for us that passed through us to our children and grandchildren.
Just saying all this makes me miss my Mother so much. How many times do we wish we told our moms about our love for them? I told my Mother many times I loved her and respected her, but I didn’t always take time for her. Now, I wish I had spent more time with her. She was fun to be with and was always two or three steps ahead of me in my thinking.
I am smiling just remembering those times when I thought I was so much smarter than my Mother, trying so hard not to be condescending. (How stupid we can be when we are young). She showed me in a sweet and gentle way that I didn’t know too much about many things, but she thought that I was smart and beautiful and there was no limit to what I could achieve.
I always loved Abraham Lincoln’s quote: “All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” My Mother was a strong, wise, wonderful woman and I know that “All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother” and I hope with all my heart that someday I can be as good, as strong, as wise and funny as she was. Patricia Richardson Stagler
My memories of Mother.
For a few weeks now, I have been thinking of my Mother. Growing up in a house full of kids “not billy goats”, I wonder how she survived the arguments, the water fights and just the every day living without losing her amazing sense of humor. We would make faces to each other to see who would yell for Mother first and she would say that our faces would freeze like that forever. Then she would start laughing and then we were laughing. She could diffuse any arguments, usually with a look or a fly squatter.
Mother had a saying for every kind of situation that happened. She would say, “you can only do what a mule can do”. It took me a long time to figure that one out. Then one day, I was overwhelmed with all that I had to do and I remembered her saying that to me. She could have said, ‘do what you have to do, the rest can wait until tomorrow.” I find myself quoting Mother’s words of wisdom. They still get the meaning across. I might have to explain a little, but it is still good advice. I remember the good old summertime at home, the book mobile would stop in front of our house and we would all check out books. We had to do chores first, then we could read. Mom kept us busy, there was always something to do … pick fruit, wash clothes, hang clothes on the clothes line, fold clothes, put away clothes and iron the clothes. The list was endless. Her motto was “busy hands keep you out of mischief”
Mom loved to cook, our Sunday dinners were so good and sometimes we would eat outside in the orchard. My husband still remembers her chili beans and biscuits and gravy. I gave up, my never tasted as good as Mother’s.
The only thing I remember that was a ritual and was not negotiable was spring cleaning. Nothing would delay Mother from her ritual, the walls were washed, the curtains and windows washed, floors scrubbed and waxed and furniture polished. I hated spring cleaning. Mother loved to whistle, she could whistle all the old songs from the 40’s and she loved dancing to music. She passed those traits along to her children. We all love music and dancing .. embarrassing our children when we demonstrate our talents.
Mother was the glue that held our family together, she instilled in each of her children to love one another, take care of one another and to always stay in touch with each other. She always encouraged us to do our best. She was very proud of her five beautiful daughters and two handsome sons and if she were here with us now, she would say, “Girls, time to take a break, let’s go shopping”. Shirley Richardson Sadocchi
Our Mother loved to put the flowers of her garden in a mason jar and set it on our kitchen table. She was a natural gardener with a green thumb. We still remember her vases full of roses and sprigs of lilac and it conjures up spring and new beginnings and life:) Scribble Sisters
In the summer, mom would start canning fruit for our use in the winter. With a large family it was necessary to preserve fruit and vegetables from your garden. Mother would start us off by showing us how to sterilize the mason jars and lids. While that was boiling in pots on the stove, we would start preparing the fruit. She taught us how pit and half the fruit so that it would look great in the jars. Mother would start the process, then we would stand there in the heat of summer in a hot kitchen stirring the boiling pot of fruit. She taught us the steps that her mother showed her. Before we could even start we had to know how to:
1. Prepare the jars and lids. They had to be boiled for a cerain length of time and then put on the table to cool.
2. Prepare the fruit. I hated pitting the fruit. But we pitted and washed the fruit before it was put in the big pot. Mother then added sugar and pectin to fruit.
3. It seemed like forever before the fruit was ready to pour in the jars. Mother always did this because everything was hot including me.
4. Mother would put the fruit in the mason jars, put the lid on loosely, then when she thought it was ready, tightened the lid and set the jar upside down on table. I will say this mother knew how to can and have fruit look beautiful.
5. We could not eat the fruit until winter. That took a lot of will power and threats to keep us from helping ourselves.
Mother said that it was important to prepare for the future. Shirley
Go to school, get good grades, especially in conduct, work hard and you can do anything you want.
Be careful of what you say, for it may come back to you one day.
A lick and a promise is ok once in a while, but sometimes you need to really get down and clean real good.
Hard work never hurts anybody, if you do it right.
Don’t be afraid of hard work…. it’s a start.
Our home was filled with love, laughter and fun, and in spite of it’s appearance, it was home!
“Make sure you got on clean underwear in case you get in an accident.” When I got in an accident, I remembered these words and called her to bring me some.
I remember mother saying that “that time waits for no one”. I think she wanted me to do something and I was not moving fast enough. As I get older, I realize that my mother was also showing us that problems could be solved with common sense . She was always coming up with great sayings to defuse any major crisis that would be happening in our household. She also told us that we could be whatever we chose to be because we were smart and beautiful. I didn’t believe that at the time, I was a teenager, but that also was important to me because that is what my mother thought of all her children. Shirley