I was maybe four when Mom bought nice, new white bedspreads with bright blue flowers all over them for the twin beds in my room. Mom loved flowers, so I got a pair of scissors and cut bunches of flowers out of the bedspreads and gave them to her. I don’t remember if I got in trouble, but I do remember that Mom sat down and sewed all those flowers, by hand, back into those bedspreads.
On my first day of school in second grade, I wore brand new pair of shoes. I walked to school in those days and by the end of the day I had angry, raw blisters on both heels. I miserably limped toward home. A couple blocks from our house I sat down on the curb and had myself a good cry. Before I knew it, Mom was there. I don’t remember what she said or did, all I know is that she was there for me when I needed her, and she made everything all better.
Mom made huge Easter baskets for us every year. They were covered in colored cellophane tied with satin ribbons, and they were filled with lots of chocolates and jelly beans. Easter is still my favorite holiday!
Birthdays meant Mom’s angel food cake. She always let us split a whole cake between us, saying “it’s mostly air” and we smothered our pieces with lots of ice cream and fresh strawberries!
I had three best Christmases thanks to Mom. The first was when I was four or five. I begged for a pink plastic toy called “Penny the Poodle”. Mom said it was a stupid toy and told me she wouldn’t spend good money on such junk… but she did! A couple years later I really wanted a “Fright Factory”, and once again, Mom came through. The very best Christmas of all was when I was eleven, and Mom surprised me with a black velvet covered helmet and a riding crop.
And there were all those lessons… First, Mom took me to ballet lessons hoping it might make me a bit more graceful. When this proved to be hopeless, she let me switch over to tumbling. Next, Mom took me to art lessons (because she thought I had talent… not so much!). Eventually, Mom was able to engineer things so I could have the horseback riding lessons that really I longed for. Dad wasn’t keen about horses (he said he didn’t trust anything that ate while he slept (?!), but Mom talked him into it, and she never seemed to tire of the mind-numbing hours watching me going around in circles trying to learn how to sit a canter & post a trot. Later, when a horse-owner neighbor had to move away and wasn’t able to take her horses, Mom told Dad that one would likely be put down if we didn’t adopt him, and so I got my first horse. My biggest dream had come true!
Once, when Mom was helping “muck” out the horse barn by pushing the wheelbarrow out to the manure pile, she slipped and fell headlong into the pile. I tried hard not to laugh, but Mom could see I was holding it back, and that made her laugh, Then we both just busted up laughing. Thanks to Mom, horses have remained a central part of my life to this very day.
Yes, Mom really spoiled me: when I was in high school she let me paint the furniture in my bedroom bright orange, and when I was in college she agreed to have the walls in my bedroom (in her new house) painted purple.
During my freshman year at the University of New Hampshire, I came down with a bad case of strep throat. Mom and Dad were out of town, so I called them to say I was headed home. When I got there, I crawled right into bed and feverishly passed out. What seemed like a short time later, I opened my eyes only to find that Mom was there holding my hand. She had talked Dad into turning around and coming right back home.
Mom was always game for any crazy adventure. Following my junior year in college I took a summer job in Grand Teton National Park. At the end of the season Mom flew out and we drove back across the country together. My favorite memory of that trip was camping out in a tent alongside the Missouri River. The mosquitoes were thick and it was raining. We dumped Jell-O cheesecake mix in a water bottle, shook it up and drank it for dinner. We listened to the radio and Mom seemed to really enjoy herself, but we both got thoroughly sick of listening to one song that played over and over and over again: “…like walkin’ on broken gla-aa-ass…”
Another camping adventure worthy of mention was the time we (along with Dad) camped out of the back of my Datsun pick-up truck during a snowstorm at Pueblo Bonita in northwest New Mexico.
Have I mentioned Mom’s hats? Mom loved hats: big brimmed sun hats, helmet type ski caps, big furry hats, you- name- it hats. I think the only hat I never saw Mom in was a ball cap.
Mom was a glutton for punishment. She unhesitatingly hopped into the front seat of an old Aeronca Champ while I was a very green pilot learning to fly tail-draggers from the back seat.
Her love for dogs is widely acknowledged. Mom didn’t always remember the names of people she met, but she never forgot their dog’s name. She loved elegant dogs, Irish Wolfhounds in particular. When I moved to Alaska and wasn’t able to take my dog Caleb; Mom agreed to adopt him. The only snag was that Caleb was a far cry from a Wolfhound. He was in fact, just a mangy old Bluetick Hound, but Mom loved him nonetheless.
Mom had a good sense of humor and she really liked O.J. A year or so after we eloped, O.J. told Mom the courthouse forgot to have us sign the marriage license, and since we were in the middle of a move, the notification of this fact never caught up to us for the better part of a year. Mom smiled and said “well now you have a second chance, so why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?”
Perhaps the thing I hold dearest in my heart about my Mom was how she always seemed sincerely interested in every utterly boring thing I wanted to talk about, and she always laughed and acted as though I was the funniest person she knew.
When I think of Mom, I think of so many things… French toast and mimosas, walks on the beach, puppy dogs, bouquets of fresh-cut flowers, watercolor paintings, sterling silver, and candle-lit dinners every night of the week. Mom made everything extra special and I miss her with all my heart.
