I repost this, now and then. Today’s the day….
Today would have been my mom’s birthday. She would have been 84.
Life was hard when my mom was a kid. People had very little in the way of excess. She told us of having only three outfits: one for church, one for school, and one for choring. When a mom went to the trouble and expense of making a dress for a daughter, she would be sure to make it larger and take up that slack by making the seams deeper or thicker. Then as the owner of the dress grew, the seams could be let out. Same goes for deep hems.
My mom never was allergic to poison ivy. I’ve inherited this tendency from her, although I do get a bump or two if I am in it a long time. It is wonderful, though, to do all the weeding, including pulling up poison ivy, and not worry. My mom used to stand in poison ivy that was waist-high and pick wild grapes for jelly.
Because my mom could tolerate exposure to poison ivy, she was the gate person for their entire family. The gate had poison ivy growing on it and when the family left for an excursion, her job was to climb out of their vehicle and open the gate.
She also was the tornado warning person. If the skies looked threatening, it was her job to stand sentry and keep a lookout for tornadoes. Everyone was very sober and stern about this job of hers, so she diligently looked and looked for tornadoes during haying times. Only one trouble was that she did not know what a tornado was and imagined every sort of boogy except a cloud. Had a tornado come, she would not have known it.
She did encounter one, one day, though, and I am glad I had her on my side then.
Here’s to one good mom.
Home's Cool! 
God bless your mama….she taught you well…like mama like Kate.
Thanks for this comment, Kate! My mom and I were not much alike, but occasionally I see her in something I do or say, and I think, “So that’s how she felt,” or, “So that’s why she did that.” I love the old saying, “The older I get, the smarter my parents get.” 🙂 She did teach me well, though, and I did inherit writing from her, I believe, and my actual handwriting, itself, is amazingly similar to hers. Odd how all the recombinant stuff turns out.