What I Remember About My Mom Most

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My mom is still around, by the way. She is alive and well. I just talked to her this morning. I talk to her just about every single day. The mother she was to me as a child is on my mind right now, though, because of the night I just spent with my 4-year-old.

Last night he only wanted applesauce for dinner and then he went to bed. My husband and I and my sister and her husband (our gracious hosts until we find a dang house) were watching the gag reel from Bridesmaids. And laughing. A LOT. After that, I went to bed only to find my 4-year-old sitting at the top of the stairs looking very groggy and not...well.

"You never tame upstayohs," he said.

"What do you mean? You never called my name. I never heard you. What's wrong?"

"I trowed up."

From about 10:00 to 5:00 this morning, I put my middle school softball skills to work by moving at lightning speed when any hint of sickness made itself known. An hour and a half later, I was getting my 7-year-old ready for school before driving him there.

And I was reminded about all of the things my mother did for me, some completely unrelated to caring for me when I was sick. Things like...



Me in my mother's arms in Dallas in 1978.

 

...asking me to stir the eggs. I always wanted to be in the kitchen with her when she made breakfast. She would sit me up on the counter and ask me to stir the eggs. I stirred and stirred and stirred and stirred and stirred the heck out of those eggs and felt like I was a real part of putting the food on the table.

...letting us eat the leftover cake or brownie batter in the bowl. That was the total highlight of my day when she let us do that. We probably made indentions in the hard glass bowl from trying to get every inch of batter out of it.

...washing my hair in the sink. I still don't get this one and forgot to ask her about it today. Washing hair in the sink is very Honey Boo Boo-ish. I think she just liked washing our hair from time to time? I don't know. I'm going to investigate this one.

...cleaning my ear lobes with rubbing alcohol. I think she did this when earrings irritated them or something. I don't know. I just know that, to this day, the smell of rubbing alcohol brings me back to 1983 and lying my head in my mother's lap on our old, soft couch.

...cutting roses for us to give my teacher. We had a rose bush behind our house. When we were young, she would cut a rose from it, wrap the stems in aluminum foil and have us take it to our teachers. After a couple of years, we had to cut that out. Can't be looking too sweet, you know?

There are lots more memories, of course, like seeing her talking on the phone in the kitchen and playing limbo underneath the super long telephone cord. I definitely remember her taking care of me when I was sick. Sprite and saltines reminds me of my mother, too. Basically, lots of things do.

Even though I could be a huge pain through the years, I always loved and appreciated my mom, like I do now. Her example inspires me to be a better mom.

Which reminds me...I need to go to the store to get some Sprite. And rubbing alcohol

What good memories of your mom do you have from childhood? If there aren't any, what kind of memories are you trying to make for your kids now or kids in your life now (even if they aren't yours)?