Mother's Day Reflections and Wishes!

Mother's Day holds a very special place in my heart. There is double pleasure for us the first week of May because Mom's birthday was the 9^th. Sometimes we celebrated both occasions on the Sunday.

My brother and I were reminiscing last night, I would like to share some of it with you all.

First a little background. When I was four years old, my Dad passed away. His sudden death left my very young mother with four children. The youngest being two weeks old and the oldest eight years. (I was the second child, you all know second born are very special! Grin) To say we met hard times would be an understatement.

Mom taught by example, many of those lessons are with us today and guide us through every day life. She would say, "Don't live your life on your shirt sleeve!" Translated, that means, keep your problems to yourself, the other person may be worse off then you are.

Another, "You will never meet a stranger." if you live life with a positive, caring outlook. Truly, Mom never met a stranger. Her life was filled with loving, caring family and friends.

On a more humorous note, when I was 16 we moved from a very small town to the "BIG" city. I was able to find a part time job working after school and Saturday. Sunday was a day of rest back then. One day my brother and I were going shopping. Mom gave me a list of things she wanted from the store, I picked them up, brought them home and told her the cost of the goods including sales tax. TAX!, (we didn't have a sales tax back home) I‘ll not pay a sales tax she said and that was final. So I had to eat the tax so to speak. Not long after, another trip to the store included a list from Mom.

I rendered the parcels and informed her the bill was $6.00 no tax or $5.50 including the tax. She reached into her purse, and with a wink of the eye and hearty smile, handed me $5.00 and said, "Thank you, you are a good son."

I don't recall just when she started shelling out the tax.....but today the no tax memory is priceless.

In later years, a group of the family , including Mom, made dinner out on Friday night a weekly family event. This particular night the waitress ask our group if we wanted desert. She went on to say that their Pies were just like your mom would make! With a smile on my face I looked directly at the waitress and replied, "In that case I will pass!" Mom turned and gave me one of her famous backhands, and we all laughed.

Mom has moved on to a better place, however she is very much a part of our every day lives. She is always with us and will never be forgotten!

Spend the day and coming years making fond memories. They are priceless!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there.