Mother's Day

My mom had me when she was in her mid 30's, a pretty normal occurence today-but by the standards of that time, she was probably considered "old". I was the youngest of 4 girls, my next sister is 8 years older than me; yet they attest I was not a surprise. So I like to call myself 'my dad's last ditch effort for a boy'. Luckily for him, my sister Sherry is the next best thing:).

Like most mom's of her time, she stayed at home and raised us girls while my dad made a living as an engineer on the railroad, as well as making a pretty decent living of trapping. I remember our garage would be filled from top to bottom with muskrat, and my mom skinned every single one of them with her bare hands. At the time I laughed at her mink coat-little did I know it was such a prized possession; nor did I realize how hard she worked for it!

As my older sisters moved out of the house, mom decided to get a part-time job as a van driver for the county, she went to rural areas and transported elderly. Or as I referred to it at the time the 'tart-cart', yes I realize how politically incorrect that is now. My grandmother and her would work odd days from each other doing the same thing, which enabled me to spend the other half of my time at my grandparents house while she was working.

In my early teens, my parents decided to embark on a new business adventure-meanwhile my father continued to work for the railroad. They built, and managed 3 gas stations along Lake Winnebago's east side. For many reasons it proved to not be a lucrative business for them; however, they remained in the business until I graduated from high school. My mom would get up at 3 a.m. to open the stores, and many times have to close them due to some reason or another. Yet she managed to make it to every single volleyball, basketball, and softball game I ever participated in; along w/ all the usual teenage runnings at that time.

After they sold the stores, my mom decided to apply for a rural mail carrier position in our home town. It was a 9-3 job, which allowed her to interact with many of the people in the community she has grown to know throughout the course of her lifetime. She truly loved this job, and it was wonderful to see her in a job which was so fulfilling.

When Alex was born, my dad had finally reached retirement with the railroad, and because of how railroad pensions are setup-he had also collected one for my mother during those years. So as a stipulation to retirement, she also had to retire whether she was ready for it or not. My parents had spent most of their adult lives as separate entities: dad worked, made money, and then hunted and fished in his spare time. Mom raised the kids, raised the kids, and raised the kids; and in a plea for sanity she took on part-time work. Sadly when my parents reached retirement, they fell into that population who had spent so much time apart-that when they had to, they didn't know how to spend time together.

Luckily for both of them they have 9 grandchildren, and 2 on the way to refocus themselves on. Dad still enjoys his hunting, fishing, and gardening; mom enjoys volunteering, her spirituality, she continues to give herself to all of us girls-and our extended families, and she enjoys going out to Colorado to just get away sometimes. Mom's random acts of kindness:

• stopping to wash my windows when I'm gone but she won't make a point to let me know she did it
• stopping to sweep the garage, pull weeds; dad stops to take care of the bushes
• organizing things within my house when I'm not around-things she knows I just don't make an honest effort to do myself
• sometimes I'll come home to some form of dinner in the fridge or in the oven
• she is almost always there when I need her to watch the kids in a bind
• she's accomodating to whatever is easiest for our life

And these are just a few, and while they may not seem big or come in the form of monetary value-to a mom w/ 2 kids, and one on the way; these things are priceless. I've said it before, her strength comes in her quietness, she doesn't need to tell me the things she's done-because I notice it, and rarely does a day go by that I'm not thanking her or dropping a line telling her how much I appreciate her. I only wish I can give my kids half of what she has given me throughout the short course of my lifetime so far.

Happy Mother's Day to all you mother's out there.