With Mother's Day approaching, I would like to post the following:
The following are a few special moments of or shared with my mother, snapshots if you will, that will always be cherished.
*---wiping the clothes line with a damp rag using her bare hand while hanging the wash out on a cold Iowa winter(Monday) morning.
*---presenting to me year after year at my birthday my favorite cake--chocolate with white frosting.
*---those gentle finger taps to the forehead in the morning to wake me. Even though it was irritating then, I'd give anything to have her wake me one more time.
*---helping her shell peas with the bowl on her lap (and squeezing out a few peas from the shell with your teeth.)
*---watching her spread the dough before making a homemade pizza on a Saturday night.
*-- -seeing her patiently and lovingly waiting at the front door when I arrived home after school off the bus.
*---seeing her sunburned left arm from having the window down while traveling due to no air-conditioning.
*---seeing her come in the front door and the look of sadness the morning my dad passed away.
*---listening to her read at times her favorite poems or passages with enthusiastic enunciation.
*---watching her shuffle and deal a hand of her favorite card game "Pepper" and quickly announcing her "bid."
*---sometimes at night watching her while sitting at the kitchen table playing a game of Solitaire.
*---reluctantly waking me from my sleep in the backseat of the car when arriving home at night and telling me it's time to go in the house and up to bed.
*---carrying a tray of eats, including hot dogs and marshmallows, for the roast over an open bon- fire after the fall "grove clean-up."
*---handing me a birthday present with the same "bow" and not catching on to her special tradition for years.
*---handing me a bowl of hot oatmeal or Cream of Wheat with a cup of cocoa before school at breakfast on a cold winter morning.
*---helping her bring in a basket of towels or sheets off the clothesline and smelling them, and, continuing to enjoy that fresh-air smell after a bath or when getting into bed at night.
*---on those snowed in days, the hours of enjoyment playing Chinese checkers with her.
*---at suppertime watching her fry, in an iron skillet, a hamburger, pork chop or steak in lard. Oh my!
*---watching her walk up from the Pike's Peak look-out on the Mississippi River amidst a beautiful autumn day.
*---visiting and talking on the phone quite frequently and telling her that "I loved her," even though it was difficult for her to say those words.
*---most importantly, being with her the night she passed away in April of 2003 and playing a few hands of her favorite card game-"Pepper."
written originally October 2008
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