Tribute to Mother

I cherished my own dear mother who left this earth in January of 2008. Mother's Day is a little bittersweet for me these days, so I thought I would celebrate this year by remembering some of the special qualities of my Mom.

Of course, no one is perfect, and I don't want anyone to think that my Mom was, but in my recollections of her, I choose to dwell on the positive. Her outstanding qualities included wanting to make the world a more beautiful place, her dedication to her family and the many things that she taught us throughout our life.

Like the old song, M is for the million things she gave me..., my tribute to Mothers spells out the qualities that made my Mom so special.

Mother loved the beauty of the earth. It was she who instilled her love of flowers and gardens in me. She taught herself about landscape design and then, through my 4-H project, taught me to identify many trees, shrubs and perennials. Her favorite flower was the Iris and she had bearded irises and daylilies bordering large circular beds in our 2 acre yard on the hill. In the beginning, she would do some of the planting herself, but as she got older, Jessie, the man who lived on our place, would do most of the digging under her supervision.

Obedience and Obligation were very important to Mom and as a result we were usually well behaved. Though, being the oldest still at home, I was somewhat of a rebel and was very headstrong, Mom still managed to keep me in line. She taught us all to fulfill our obligations before we did the enjoyable things in life. She used to always say that, "you should do the things you HAVE to to first, then do the things you WANT to do later." That meant homework was completed before we went outside to play. We were all better students as a result of this policy, though I still remember those torturous hours of doing long division problems while the cool spring breeze wafted in through the windows and the bird song beckoned me outside.

Talking to us was something that Mom usually took time to do. When we were young, it seemed more like lecturing and criticism, but I guess it was really her way of teaching us about the world. She had a strict set of values that she tried to bestow on us. Not all of them took with me, especially the one about always dressing to look your best, complete with make-up, manicure and polished shoes. After we were more grown up, she would tell us stories about the family and the local happenings. I wish I had taken the time to write it all down then because as she got older, she began to forget many of the details and so did I.

Violets were one of my Mom's favorite flowers. I created this Card and Postage set on Zazzle as naturegirl7

Home and Heritage were two of the foremost things in life to my mother. She readily accepted her job as homemaker and excelled at it. Her family was her life and she strove to keep us healthy, happy and well dressed. She also made sure that we knew our roots from both sides of the family. We didn't have many relatives living close to us in the United States, but she made sure that we got to know the ones that did. Because of her, we thought of our half sister's two boys, who were very close in age to us, as little brothers instead of nephews and we were also close to Dad's nephew and his family who lived in Mobile, AL.

Encouraging her children was ongoing all through our lives. Mom told us girls that we had the intelligence and ability to be anything that we wanted to be. She especially encouraged any creative talents that we possessed. Even though, when we were young, money was tight, she and Dad made sure that art supplies were readily available. The girls also took dance and piano lessons. My brother's mechanical and technical skills were encouraged through Boy Scouts, model making and taking apart and rebuilding many machines. What could have been many lonely hours of solitude in the country were filled with crafts and hobbies that we would build upon in later life.

Reading and the love of books are other gifts that my Mother gave to us. As soon as the public library opened in our little town, Mom took us to get a library card. Since we were about 10 miles from the town of Coushatta, most of our summer reading came from the Bookmobile. Each afternoon was designated as reading and/or nap time. Since I was never much of a napper, I used the time to read popular fiction series of the time as well as some non-fiction books about things I was interested in.

It all started with Mom setting a good example by reading to us when we were small and by just showing us that reading was important. Because of her, I grew up to become a teacher and a librarian.

Skills like sewing, cooking, painting and drawing were taught at an early age. My mother's mother was an artist, so Mom always encouraged any creativity that we exhibited. We girls were taught about color coordination and fashion and she even made us take a short charm course when we were teenagers. Mom also taught us many of the "survival" skills necessary for farm life like growing vegetables and fruits, canning and freezing produce, landscaping and raising chickens. I still use many of the skills that Mom taught us when we were very small.

I wonder how I would have turned out if Mom had not thought that it was important to dedicate her life to raising us. Her family was the most important thing in her life and I think she did a fabulous job with all of us.

These are the words that we wrote on her gravestone:

"BELOVED WIFE AND MOTHER, MAY YOU LOOK DOWN ON US FROM HEAVEN AND KNOW THAT YOUR TIME ON EARTH WAS WELL SPENT"

I hope that she is smiling down on us today and that she will always be smiling, for eternity.

In the United States, the Mother's Day holiday began in 1908 as a result of the efforts of a devoted daughter, Miss Anna Jarvis of Grafton, West Virginia. After losing her mother, she was consumed with guilt about all of the things that she had not done. So, on the second Sunday in May, which was the anniversary of her mother's death, she invited a group of friends to her home and announced her idea of having a national celebration called Mother's Day. With the unanimous agreement of all and also the financial backing of a rich clothing merchant, Mother's Day was born.

On May 10, 1908 the first Mother's Day service was held in Grafton, West Virginia. It was attended by 407 children and their mothers. At the end of the service, Miss Jarvis presented each Mother and child with a Carnation flower, thus beginning a tradition.

As a result of an extensive letter writing campaign by Miss Jarvis, on May 8, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed the proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.

I lost my precious Mom in January of 2008 and since I was never blessed with children, Mother's Day is now a little bittersweet for me. This year, I decided to celebrate by writing a tribute to tell the world about the qualities that made my Mother so special. I think that this "gift" is more in line with what Miss Anna Jarvis was trying to accomplish when she created Mother's Day so many years ago. But our Mom always enjoyed material gifts, too.