This is my post for Kellie’s Free Write Friday prompt.
http://kellieelmore.com/2013/05/10/fwf-free-write-friday-m-is-for-mom
My first memories of my Mom is laying in her lap… feeling her arms wrapped around me… a feeling of love and security…
As I grew… I watched her intently… learning all those things she stayed busy with…
Hanging clothes on the line in our yard… after washing our clothes in a wringer type washing machine… 
Sprinkling the fresh air clothes 
and rolling them up to be ironed on the wooden ironing board she had salvaged from the 1937 flood here in Louisville…
Cutting the crust off of the bread with her favorite cookie cutter to make us special little sandwiches with scalloped edges…
Cutting paper dolls that held each others hands… some girls …some boys… 
Frying chicken in the big iron skillet 
and how she could always make enough to feed whoever showed up for dinner…with the greatest of ease…
Taking walks with me down to the creek 
… catching tadpoles and telling of how they would soon be frogs
… 
Snakes… beware… always watch where you walk… Roly Poly Millipede bugs… watch how they roll up when scared…
… Grandaddy Long Legs… good for eating other bugs… don’t hurt them… Caterpillars 
… they will turn into beautiful butterflies
… Amazing isn’t it!…
I hear her voice explaining so many things…
I watch as she sews on the Singer treadle sewing machine 
… later teaching me … her foot going up and down … threading the spool through the hooks and eye of the needle… replacing thread on the bobbin… so quickly …
The little dresses…pajamas… nightgowns… aprons… sewn with thoughts of that person she was making them for… swirling in her head…
Brushing my hair… making a ponytail that would stay up all day…
Making my baby doll diapers
out of rags she always saved… and even a blanket to keep it warm…
Always having a little change 
set aside for the ice cream man who came by on his bicycle 
and for a quart of chocolate milk from the milkman…
The beautiful plants… flowers and even tress planted and cared for with her green thumb… Everything grew in abundance… and she talked to them as she sprinkled them with the watering can 
… lilacs
…daffodils… violets… petunias 
… roses… cherry tomatoes and green onions…
I was getting older…
I had the shoes… clothes… that all of the other girls wanted… maybe a little later but, I got them…
Her… helping a person here and there that needed an extra pair of hands… and making that extra dollar 
for us kids… Nothing for herself…
She never seemed to “want” or “need” anything…
I knew Mom would be home when I arrived home from school… welcoming me and asking how my day had been…
A comforting feeling…
She was always helping me… as I learned to drive our car in the front yard… and up and down the driveway… practicing when Dad was at work… and passing my driving test with flying colors… as she had asked me the questions from the book I studied from over and over…
She was there when I married… helping invite the family and friends to my small wedding before my Bobby went to Viet Nam…
She was with me when I had my two sons
… two of her many grandchildren…
She was strong for us when daddy passed away… and in turn it became our turn to take care of her…
Trying to keep the grass cut… repairs on the house Daddy had built… and taking her for appointments 
and grocery store runs… she had never driven a car except in the country on back roads…
The tide had turned…
Mom eventually comes to live at my home… welcomed of course… living and being part of our little family for five years…
She talks and talks of the past… as we learned many stories of her growing up years 
… An honor… to listen to her reminisce… with a smile on her face and maybe a little whimsical tear in her eye at times…
She eventually leaves us to be cared for in the nursing home 
not far up the road… Better care for her last years… which was three…
She lives to be 98 years of age… A full life… a long life…
I feel her to this day… when my heart hurts 
… when I feel joy
… like a slight breeze caressing
me as I turn and almost expect to see her …
Thank you Mom… I miss you!
mixing it…
MKG- Memories-Keepsakes-Gifts 