Early Influences In Our Lives
Any and all credit for whatever I might be as a homemaker, mother and wife, is given to so many women who, without knowing it, molded a young girl.
What is it about the changing of the seasons that brings out the "nester" in all of us women? I think in some men too. We gear up for each new season with anticipation and excitement as tho its all a new thing and yet we do the same thing every year as we prepare for each season.
We are nesters. No question about it. I think its inherent in all of us. Its what makes us drool over spring bulb catalogs and new perennials and the sight of that first crocus. Its what makes us get excited about opening the windows and doors and letting in fresh air and sunshine after all the months of winter and being closed up. But yet, when that first tinge of autumn air hits us, we cant wait to hunker down in our homes, light a fire, burn some candles and pore over Thanksgiving and Christmas recipes and decorations. Its that excitement when we bring something new home and we find just the right place for it and it works!
I believe that we inherit some of this nesting from our parents and relatives too. I know much of what I do and have done for years, is a gift from my Mom. She was big on tradition and my love for flowers and gardens and cooking and decorating came from her.
But there were others who influenced me too. While in Virginia this past week visiting with my longtime friend, we talked about how many of our friends Mom's left a legacy imprinted on us. As little girls all in school together and Blue Birds and Camp Fire girls..we were almost always together. At each other's houses, during the week after school and definitely on weekends. So much of what is ME today is taken from so many of those mothers who didnt have a clue what an impressionable kid I was.
Thank you Mary Harrington and Helen Reker, and Martha Bunker. I am sure there are others. But these Mom's of friends must have reached inside me, in a special way, that even I didnt realize at the time.
My Aunt Ann, too. She knew how much she gave me in the way of decorating and making a warm and welcoming home because I told her often enough. I loved her home. It was warm and cozy and inviting and always seemed to smell of her homemade dinner rolls, which were the stuff legends are born from. When my Dad was dying, I stayed with her and my uncle and cousins for awhile and I observed. Maybe it was because of the sad time I was living thru that Aunt Ann's home felt so good, but I know for sure that as a young bride...all I wanted in the whole world was to own a piece of Baldwin brass...preferably a candlestick just like hers!
I am sure that most of these people are now dead and gone and left this earth never knowing just how much they gave me. But in almost everything I do...there is a small memory of those good Mom's.
Kept in my memory box, like a beautiful, old photograph, once in awhile, I let my mind wander back to those homes of my aunts and friends and the years fall away and Im a young girl drinking in the traditions and styles of all of them.
We are the sum parts of so many people in our lifetimes.
And thats a good thing.
