Remembering Mom on Mothers' Day

My mother was born in 1931, so she grew up in the time of the Great Depression. Her family was large, as was common in those days, with ten children. The family lived on a farm in the country, so she was accustomed to a simple, hardworking life. After graduating from high school, she worked for a while as a telephone operator for Bell South, and as a sales clerk for the Belk department store, where she was often asked to model clothing for older patrons who were buying clothes for their younger relatives. Her two sisters were the ones to help in the kitchen when she was growing up, while she was assigned other chores on the farm. So, she had to teach herself to cook when she moved out on her own.

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The photo at right was how Mom looked in 1954, around the time she married my father. It was very common for women to become "homemakers" in those days rather than working outside the home. So, she spent her days keeping the house in order, doing the weekly shopping, and looking after us children. She also taught herself to sew and made most of her own clothes. The photo below shows my mother (front row, center) wearing a dress she made. Also in the photo are my paternal grandmother and some of my aunts on my father's side of the family. Some of the aunts pictured are sisters of my father, others are wives of my father's brothers. And yes, that is just SOME of the aunts, as his family was large, too, with twelve children!

My mother also enjoyed crafts, and frequently made items by hand for sale at fund-raising bazaars at the church for many years. These bazaar events are held annually and the public is invited to browse and shop for homemade goods — baked goods, quilts, needlework, woodwork, whatever the church members wish to make and donate. A big meal is prepared in the church's kitchen, and plates of food are served for a price. It is called a 'bazaar' instead of a 'craft fair' because years ago donations of gently-used books, furniture items, and other goods were sometimes included, although homemade crafts were the preferred items. Although Mom frequently enjoyed wearing the color red, she was always shy and never liked being the center-of-attention in any situation (the same as me) and it is a fallacy when people make the claim that those who wear red are attention-seekers. The photo below shows Mom (in the red blouse) selling holiday decorations which she made.

When all of us children grew up and fled the nest, my mother became interested in birds. See what I did there? 😀

She had always liked watching birds in the back yard, but only knew a few common species by sight. She immersed herself heavily in bird watching then by purchasing books and studying them. She talked my father into taking her on trips to nearby wildlife sanctuaries and began to actively seek-out certain birds. If the place had a gift shop, you can bet she wanted to visit and purchase a figurine of a bird she had seen, or another book, or whatever. She had a collection of a couple dozen such figurines, in total.

She also subscribed to magazines about birds and learned about birds from all over the world. My parents scrimped and saved money any way they could — by lowering the heat in winter and wearing sweaters around the house, eating simply, foregoing luxuries, etc. — so they could travel a bit when my father retired from his job. Many of those trips centered around Mom's fascination for bird-watching.

On a bird-watching trip to New Mexico, Dad noticed a pair of hummingbirds that came close to Mom and kept following her around for an hour or so as she and Dad walked. Mom was thrilled. She and Dad finally realized that her pink slacks were a close match to a particular flower in the area which the hummingbirds love. One of the birds Mom wanted to see was the woodcock. She looked for them on many of their bird-watching trips to the northern states. After several such unsuccessful trips, a woodcock came wandering through their back yard at home!

My father built quite a number of bird houses and bird feeders for Mom, which attracted more birds into the yard and my mother was delighted. Most, if not all, of them were built with scraps of materials leftover from other jobs. The most charming of them all was this little birdhouse he built for the tiny chickadees:

^{• BIRDHOUSE BY DAD, PHOTO & PROCESSING BY ME •}

We lost my mother in late December 2015, and laid her to rest in early 2016. Most of the bird figurines are going to my brother now that Mom has passed, as he has more room for them in his house. I am keeping the kingfisher shown above, as well as the music box below, which plays the song, "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning." If you wish, you can click the video below to hear the song play.

^{• VIDEO BY ME •}

^{• VIDEO BY ME •}

 😊

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