I am pretty much crazy about her and the older I get, much to Joe's good fortune, I am sounding and acting like her more and more.
I was raised in Baytown, Texas....an oil refinery town...Mother stayed home.....had the cookies and milk waiting for us when we would get home from school...an ideal childhood....there was much love in the house and Mother was the heartbeat of the family...I was a bit of a pistol as a youngen(are you surprised?).....I would bite and spit (Lord only knows why I would do such a thing)...so Mother would go outside to the pepper bushes and get one and slice it open with her finger nail and give my tongue a good rub down....my tongue would catch on fire and after several episodes of that, I learned my lesson.....why didn't I learn it the first go around?
She is the best cook in town, and I learned everything from her....of course we fried most everything we ate, whether it needed it or not....and a dab of butter on everything that wasn't fried.....We would get a good spankin' when it was needed, went to church on Sundays and Wednesdays.....and learned it was better to give than to receive....We learned all about God and Jesus and I was baptised July 8, 1964 in the baptistry with the painted scene of the Jordan River as the backdrop...I learned how to sing alto in that little church....I went to church camp every summer....we swam in the creek....there was NO MIXED BATHING....at least that is what they would call it back then, when the boys and girls swam together....which we would have none of that nonsense....always separated....I learned how to get along with others....we didn't have a whole lot, but I thought we were rich as could be...always had clothes on my back and food in the belly.....gotta love that....
She is the best cook in town, and I learned everything from her....of course we fried most everything we ate, whether it needed it or not....and a dab of butter on everything that wasn't fried.....We would get a good spankin' when it was needed, went to church on Sundays and Wednesdays.....and learned it was better to give than to receive....We learned all about God and Jesus and I was baptised July 8, 1964 in the baptistry with the painted scene of the Jordan River as the backdrop...I learned how to sing alto in that little church....I went to church camp every summer....we swam in the creek....there was NO MIXED BATHING....at least that is what they would call it back then, when the boys and girls swam together....which we would have none of that nonsense....always separated....I learned how to get along with others....we didn't have a whole lot, but I thought we were rich as could be...always had clothes on my back and food in the belly.....gotta love that....I went off to college in Abilene, TX....that was 8 hours away from home....which might as well have been on another planet.....didn't go home much...didn't have a car until my senior year...but that made me appreciate Mother's cookin' every time I got to come home. Got a degree in teachin'....Mother would always tell everyone I graduated "O LAUDY!".....cause I wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer....ha!
I got married soon after, but always held a special place in my heart for my upbringin'....So Mother ..... I salute you for loving on me, holding me tight, crying with me, and always being there, like a good mama should do....if I could only do half as well, then I have done good on this earth....I love you more than you know!!!!!
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