Remembering my Mom

Today is Mother's Day and it's also my mom's birthday. She would have been 68 today. This is my 3rd Mother's Day without her, and I miss her, so I thought I would write about some of the great memories I have of growing up under her influence.

My mom came from a lower class background with two alcoholic parents. One story she told about growing up was of how she would to go to the tavern to ask her parents for money to get something to eat. Sometimes she would buy herself a big ice cream cone for dinner. Her sister, Peggy, was 9 years older and moved in with their grandparents when she was 16. My mom and her mother did the same when she was 11 and her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Mom always thought it was neat that she, her mother, and her sister all graduated from Lincoln Highschool from the same address. She shared how after her mom died that she thought her grandparents were unfair because they wouldn't let her run all around the neighborhood to play--until she realized it was because they loved her enough to care about where she was and what she was doing. When I think about how my mom grew up, I am amazed at the adult she became.

My mom was kind to everyone--almost to a fault. She talked to complete strangers as if they were good friends. (That embarrassed me as a teen) She loved to volunteer at our elementary school and even worked part time as the playground and lunchroom lady. One summer when I was around 10, she pursuaded my dad to host international highschool students from Japan for a weekend through a program at the University of Washington. The object of the weekend was so that the students could experience life with an american family. This led to several years of involvement with international graduate students and helping them experience american life outside of the university. It also led to some great travel experiences for her.

She loved Red Rose Tea and we would drink it from china cups and saucers when I was little. She loved musicals and classic movies and shared those enjoyments with me. I remember checking out books from the library as a pre-teen and she would read them too. She would tell my sister and I about her highschool friends--how the girls were all in Rainbow and the boys were in DeMolay and the fun things they did. When she found out that Rainbow Girls were still around she asked me if I'd like to join. I did, and when my sister was old enough she did too. It was fun being a part of something that she enjoyed as a teen.

There were some not so good things about my mom as well. Her health was not the best. She was sick a lot with female issues, and headaches. In the late 1990's she showed signs of early onset Althziemers. She was officially diagnosed is the summer of 2002. It was a hard 5 years watching her decline. Yet it wasn't until the last few months of her life that she lost her sweet spirit. I remember our last good visit, which just happened to be Mother's Day weekend 2007. My dad had taken her to the wedding of two of her highschool friends that Saturday afternoon. On Sunday we were talking to my dad about the wedding and my mom said "Who's Wedding? Why wasn't I there?" We told her that she had been there, and that she'd had a very nice time. She smiled and said "Good, I'm glad."

I could write about lots of other things, and maybe later I will. But for now, through my tears, I just want to say Happy Birthday Mom, and Happy Mother's Day. I love you, and I miss you.