My Dear Mother

Today I sat at my desk.  It was a mess. We just got a new computer, so I was dusting with one of those fancy-dancy microfiber cloths, just to see if they really worked. Well, lo and behold! It really worked. My house looks atrocious, but my desk looks great! Well, relatively speaking it does. I have a little porcelain statue of a lady at a desk. My mom gave it to me. It reminds me that she was an Avon lady. I think she won it for super sales one year.  

Anyway, my mom was an amazing, beautiful, courageous, patriotic, opinionated, kind, humorous, intelligent, happy woman. Anyone who met her, I daresay, liked her. She had a bumper sticker on "Old Whitey" (our '65 Chevy Pick-up that my dad bought with poker winnings). The bumper sticker said, "Help Wildlife ~ Throw a Party!" And, that just about sums up my mother. She was always ready to have a good time; have a good time helping her neighbor, have a good time teaching 3rd graders, have a good time traveling the world each summer by carefully saving dollars she set aside from her teacher's salary. She was intelligent; but more than that, she was wise. When daddy died at such a young age (54), she let us know, "You can't wait until you retire to do the things you want to do." It was really a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because she only lived two years after she retired. That is mind-boggling. I still can't fathom that my lively mother has passed away. She was much too full of life to leave us. But, the fact of the matter is, she has passed away. But, her memory, her lessons, her legacy lives on. 

My parents did not profess to be Christians. However, they were the type to pick up strangers on the road and take them to get their tire fixed. My mom was the type to cook a meal for a family of 10, when the parents were emotionally broken down and one was in the hospital.    

Today in church, a few verses out of the scripture that was read really resounded with me. (Matthew 25: 35, 36, 40) "I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me."  I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did it for me!"  That was the type of parents I had. They didn't go to church (unless Roberta and I were singing in our "Band of Love Choir".  They honestly thought that churches were full of hypocrites.  I believe they didn't know about the free grace of God.  However, another curious fact is that one of my mom's favorite songs of all time was "The Old Rugged Cross."  I think my mom had Jesus in her heart, not in a building. 

When Mom was in the hospital the day before she died, our dear family friend said to me, "Suzie, your mom was such a wonderful person. She was always doing for others."  This is true.  I am blessed to be the daughter of Johnnie Louis Payne Myers.  Love you Mom.

 

So, I am offering a wonderful recipe from my dear mother, my favorite of all sweets ~  homemade ice cream.  I hope you enjoy it! 

 Mom's Ice Cream

Beat 2 cups sugar and 4 eggs until creamy.

Add 1 Tablespoon vanilla, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, 2 large cans evaporated milk, 1 instant vanilla pudding mix.

Mix all together.  Put in ice cream freezer; fill to 1 inch from the top with milk or cream.  Makes 1 gallon. 

Family History

FAMILY AND MEMORIES AND HISTORY

Every trip we take, as a family, we make more history. Each event and activity we enjoy become memories for us later on. I have such fond memories of playing in this house, in its yard.

I had no idea it was so small, when the love was so big. This is the house my father lived in with his parents.

All I remember was playing in the front yard, pulling off little tiny leaves from the trees, pretending to be a bride, and having my sister sprinkle those little leaves on me.

And, I remember drinking real coffee, with lots of cream and sugar, in little porcelain, gold-trimmed coffee cups, as we dunked delicious cookies in our coffee.

We also got to play in a swimming hole, complete with gooey mud, unknown critters below and above, and loads of laughter.

Oh, and I remember the outhouse; its stink; our spoiled-ness in going out there as little as possible, but when we did, having our perfume bottle under our noses. Oh, my dear and beautiful grand-Mom could have had in-door plumbing; yes. After all, her son was a plumber. Well, she didn't want to 'get above her raisin' '. She didn't need indoor toilets or bathtubs. She had a nice, big, wash tub outside anyway. Well, she also had a port-a-potty of sorts inside. And, my own beautiful mother, would put up with our finicky-ness, and let us use that one inside. Well, if you ask me, I'd tell my own kids to deal with it; get over it; go use the out house; and remember how blessed you are to have in-door plumbing, and so many other things.

But, in the end, we have memories; more valuable than the wood and the bricks, and the in-door plumbing, the toilets and washing machines. We have the feelings that warm our souls, cause tears to well up in our eyes. No, nothing can compare, or take that away.