Happy Mother's Day! Mom and I were laughing recently about her inability to sew or knit. She never learned to drink coffee or tea. Cooking? Dad was the weekend cook of the interesting food. She was the good found-this-casserole-recipe-in-the-magazine cook. Good. Filling. Fine. Then, our conversation expanded to her lack of ability of the standard 1950s roles of moms. She was not even close to the norms.
What she did do was to let us ride our bikes into town at a very young age. She made sure we had good dental care, even though it was expensive and a challenge for them. She worked hard in the gardens and in the house. She always loved an organized, clean house. She always, always looked fantastic. Thin, sweet, put together. She never expected perfection of her children just that we all gave it our best try. One of us flunked chemistry (me) while another was horrible at math (Lee). We were not scolded for it, she understood. She always trusted us.
She loved that we all taught ourselves how to play the piano. She loved that all of us performed music at high levels. Her family honored music in their household so she was thrilled that her children picked up that thread from her childhood. She could only play the piano if she wrote down what each note was above the actual note. She only played slow pieces.
She always made our successes OUR successes.
What made her stand out from the groups of women in the 1950s Coffee Klatches filled with women who were unfulfilled? My mom loved her life. She adored my dad and he clearly adored her. Together, the house was filled with lots of music and laughter and interesting conversations. They taught me a lot by watching them raise us together as a team.
It made me want that kind of life and marriage.
She was not the normal mom of her day. I always thought she was exceptional. When people wished for a mom like The Beaver's, I knew that mine was so much more. I so wish other could have had her as their mom.
Happy Mother's Day, mom!
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