The Details

If I had a word that described my Mother best….it would be the details.

From a very early age I learned how to set a proper table. Cloth napkins were best when nicely ironed.

Saturday nights were cause for hair washing and socks in the hair for my never ending straight hair to give it some curl. Dresses were ironed, shoes were polished and ribbons were laid out.

Easter always had the same Easter basket year after year. A Peter Rabbit chocolate bunny, robin eggs, jelly beans which I didn’t like and the candy eggs with white fluffy center. The Easter basket was always hidden in a new place, and we always had brand new dresses and socks, sometimes my sister and I matched…but as she grew older not so much.

Valentines Day was always a special table setting….we each got a card and some chocolates. Mom made a cheesecake and we had pretty felt hearts all decorated around the table.

Christmas was always a treat. We had a Christmas breakfast with a pretty candle and our Christmas breakfast presents were usually books or something like that. I found out later that Dad would always pick our oranges and apples and I wish I would have known that, I would have said thank you more.

My Mother kept a very pretty house. We learned early how to put a room together and how to decorate. How to vacuum and dust properly…and most importantly how to make a bed properly.

Her attention to detail flowed over into my piano playing. She couldn’t read music but she always pointed out the mistakes I had made. As a teenager I found this so irritating but now as an adult I understand what she was doing….and I’m a better keyboard player because of it.

My Mother was an excellent seamstress, a skill none of us girls except Kathie, were able to accomplish. She made bridesmaids dresses, and flower girl dresses, prom dresses and school dresses and my favorite dresses were the ones she made. I had dolls that she made and stuffed animals, some of those I still have to this day.

If my Mother would be raising children today , she would have been known as a “crunchy” Mom. She made us try goats milk which did not go over well with my dad nor my nieces and nephews. We had a goat each…my goat was named Heidi. We then switched to cows milk after all of us complained, and especially my Dad . I learned about scraping cream from the top, I learned this by getting in trouble for pouring the milk and cream in my cereal. When I did remember she would sometimes make me churn butter and then we would put it in a pretty butter mold.

She loved nature and camping…I remember how I would always make fun of how she took pictures of landscape and animals…and now when I reach to do the same…I get it.

She loved gardening and even though she tried…I didn’t have the love for it until older. I did enjoying running the tiller. She loved plants and we had lots of those. She dried flowers that she grew, she canned and she did freezer corn…to this day I am not a fan of corn. I just hated how sticky everything was.

She took me blackberry picking and gooseberry picking and raspberry picking…and I had to wear long sleeves so I didn’t scratch my arms. I loved this chore for the most part because I loved to eat the berries….but the jam Mom made was top tier.

There were special days when we would come home and I would open the fridge and Mom would put in fancy glass cups some jellos with fruit in it with whipping cream or even chocolate pudding….I absolutely loved our fancy dishes and how fun it was to eat out of them.

Summer was all about swimming in the pool and my job was getting the bugs off the pool…a job I did not like, nor did I do it well. Suntan lotion was never heard of…so on day two after a sunburn I would wear my dad’s white t shirt. We would play all day and only come in at night to watch the muppets and eat frozen yogurt…which was in fact….Andersen Erickson yogurt ….that we froze.

Every morning my Mother could be found in her spot reading her bible and praying …every Wednesday night she was at choir practice which felt like five ever and I would play with the other kids who found themselves in the same position. My Mother loved music and was adamant that we learn how to play an instrument since she never got to.

She was a tea drinker while my Dad was a coffee drinker. She taught my Ellie to get at least get two cups of tea out of each tea bag. This is a tradition my Ellie does to this day.

My Mother was raised during the depression. We saved every bit of food, every plastic bag and every piece of aluminum foil.

She taught me to go thrifting before it was cool and check name brands and to buy finer quality.

We learned how to stretch a dollar early and what was important to spend money on and what wasn’t.

My favorite thing to do in this life was to make my Mother laugh. she would sit downstairs and read our school paper and laugh and laugh when she would read my articles and I would do anything to hear that laugh again.

She was an amazing self taught artist…she was thrilled to hear that Ellianna was headed to art school….which today was her first day, and there is no doubt her skill comes from her grandmother.

My favorite memories would be when we would drive home from church. It was a long trip…about 45 minutes to home. Dad would be driving and Mom would start singing and I would be laying in the back windshield (back when seatbelts were not a requirement) and I would look at the stars and listen as my Dad would sing with us. My mother soprano my sister alto and I would just sing the melody…and Dad would join in wherever he felt like singing.

I would pay a million dollars to have that moment one more time…in our gray Buick driving down the road with our maroon velvet seats…and me without a care in this world.

Until that one glorious day.