- Joined
- Sep 27, 2008
- Messages
- 20,518
I hope the forums are quiet this morning because Moms are being paid attention to.
I still miss mine, who passed away at 94, 3 years ago. Her mind was still sharp. She played bridge and headed up the vigilantes of the Food Committee at her assisted living residence. She often said "it's hell getting old," and most of her girlfriends were 15 years younger, since she had outlived so many.
It took me many years to really appreciate who she was as a person, her intelligence, strength of mind and adventurous spirit. She was the second oldest daughter of 13 children during the Depression, and helped raise the youngest. She never ate pancakes as an adult, because "I ate them 3 times a day back then." She was very proud of a tattered photograph and newspaper clipping showing her as a member of the state champion HS basketball team, back when they played half-court ball and wore skirts. She was valedictorian in her class and won the state science fair, but there was never any discussion of college. She and her best friend, after HS, took a train to NYC and signed up for the Army Air Corps/Service Civil Service, after Pearl Harbor. They took a troop train to San Francisco for a school, then a troop ship to Pearl Harbor, where she worked at Hickam Army Air Base during the remainder of WWII and for several years after. I have her photo album from the war years in Pearl; I think there was a lot of time logged at the Ft. DeRussy beach bar on Waikiki, where the Hale Koa is now, since Hawaii was an R&R location. The stories I heard when she visited us in Pearl! She was the only one of her siblings to live and work in many parts of the country away from the family home state. She married late, a real outlier in her time, and was an equal partner to my dad, who was a quiet, intelligent, supremely kind man with a wicked sense of humor. She was great at all things math and science, and never gave me the idea there was anything I couldn't do. I always wonder if she had been born later, with more educational and career doors open, what she could have accomplished.
I finally realized many of my strengths derived directly from her.
Thanks for listening. For all you DS/DD out there, take a moment to look past the mom you know and see the woman who sets so much of her life aside to focus on you. Ask for her stories, ask her about herself. As she phases out of the hands-on child-raiser stage of your life, get to know her in a different way.
Miss you, Mom (Rose).
I still miss mine, who passed away at 94, 3 years ago. Her mind was still sharp. She played bridge and headed up the vigilantes of the Food Committee at her assisted living residence. She often said "it's hell getting old," and most of her girlfriends were 15 years younger, since she had outlived so many.
It took me many years to really appreciate who she was as a person, her intelligence, strength of mind and adventurous spirit. She was the second oldest daughter of 13 children during the Depression, and helped raise the youngest. She never ate pancakes as an adult, because "I ate them 3 times a day back then." She was very proud of a tattered photograph and newspaper clipping showing her as a member of the state champion HS basketball team, back when they played half-court ball and wore skirts. She was valedictorian in her class and won the state science fair, but there was never any discussion of college. She and her best friend, after HS, took a train to NYC and signed up for the Army Air Corps/Service Civil Service, after Pearl Harbor. They took a troop train to San Francisco for a school, then a troop ship to Pearl Harbor, where she worked at Hickam Army Air Base during the remainder of WWII and for several years after. I have her photo album from the war years in Pearl; I think there was a lot of time logged at the Ft. DeRussy beach bar on Waikiki, where the Hale Koa is now, since Hawaii was an R&R location. The stories I heard when she visited us in Pearl! She was the only one of her siblings to live and work in many parts of the country away from the family home state. She married late, a real outlier in her time, and was an equal partner to my dad, who was a quiet, intelligent, supremely kind man with a wicked sense of humor. She was great at all things math and science, and never gave me the idea there was anything I couldn't do. I always wonder if she had been born later, with more educational and career doors open, what she could have accomplished.
I finally realized many of my strengths derived directly from her.
Thanks for listening. For all you DS/DD out there, take a moment to look past the mom you know and see the woman who sets so much of her life aside to focus on you. Ask for her stories, ask her about herself. As she phases out of the hands-on child-raiser stage of your life, get to know her in a different way.
Miss you, Mom (Rose).