When faced with life's challenges,
it is Important to Remember
that although Daniel was saved from the lions,
he was not saved from the Lion's Den.


Friday, February 22, 2013

Five Minute Friday - What Your Mama Did




Five Minute Friday

Today is Five Minute Friday already.  This is where we write just to write and we don't worry about whether it is just right or not.  So, spend five minutes on the topic and than go over to Lisa Jo's and share your link.  You just might find an amazing memory all tucked inside.  In just five minutes. Tell me all about what your mama did that made her yours….

{and don’t forget to spend some time commenting on the post of the person who linked up just before you}

GO:

I wish that I could say that I have millions of memories of my childhood.  But I have shoved them so far into myself that they are nearly impossible to dig up and review.  I have tried because I know that there were many good things about growing up with my family.  I want to share the good with my children so that they could come to understand and appreciate who I am, and who their grandparents are. 
I want them to know a world that was so different than the one they live in today.  A world with Wallace and Ladmo, cartoons on Saturday morning and Dark Shadows each and every day after school.  I want them to know what it was like to play Cowboys and Indians and drink from the mud puddles in the back yard.  We did not have video games or cable TV.  As a matter of fact, the channels turned off at midnight, played the National Anthem and didn't turn back on until six in the morning.   
We grew up in the hot Arizona desert.  The summers could be sweltering, and often were so hot, that if we walked on the pavement in bare feet, we would get blisters.  There was no air conditioning back in our humble apartment.  We only had a swamp cooler that blew air from the ceiling vents throughout the house.  We used to struggle to find the best place in the room where the cool air would blow right on our faces. 
One of my favorite memories of my mom is when she would take out the ironing board every week.  She always ironed her clothes in the summertime with her yellow two piece bathing suit on and her ironing board set up in the sunshine in the middle of the kitchen.  She would sing at the top of her lungs to a tune only she knew.  She used to put her own words to the songs too.  I had to laugh because she never remembered the right words to go with her songs. 
My mom passed away shortly after my last baby was born, but if I close my eyes, I can still go back to that small apartment on a hot summer day and see her there.  Her reddish brown hair curling madly on her head, her tiny body in that bright yellow swim suit, her voice raised in off key tunes and singing the words (according to her memory) right along with Jimmy Dean and Elvis. 
To this day, I can never see a yellow swim suit without remembering that part of my childhood.  The bubbles in the pool outside, climbing the clothesline pole to the roof, having a praying mantis for a pet, running in the gravel across the yard to put callouses on my feet so that they would toughen up and not get burned, and singing with my mom as she made up her own tunes. 

STOP
 

4 comments:

  1. I'm visiting from 5 Minute Friday; I'm right next to you in the linky list. I love the memories you were able to bring up to the surface and share -- especially the one of your mom singing in her yellow two-piece while ironing! Precious.

    Interestingly, I live in Arizona and still have a swamp cooler, something I love until July-August.

    I also fondly remember the days of safe neighborhoods & cowboys and indians in the street . ~Blessings to you

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  2. What a fun memory! I'm sorry you lost your mom, but am glad you got to have good times and good memories with her :)

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  3. You may not have a LOT of memories...but the ones you shared are AMAZING.

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  4. What a fun post about your memories of your mom. It stirred up a few of my own memories. You have some sweet memories
    Blessings to you!

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