Mother’s Day! One day out of 365 we take special care to acknowledge all the things our Mother does for us daily. Can a gift adequately express our feelings, ideas, gratitude, and understanding for our Mother? How often do we take for granted the everyday things she does that make our lives easier?
My mother was a stay-at-home mom for most of my life. From the day I was born, she has always been there. She did everything around the house daily, smoothly, quietly, and most often unobtrusively. Fixing meals, and bandageing scrapped knees and elbows I collected several times a week. She rescued me from crashing into a table. I stood on the arms of a rocking chair and rocked it from rocker tip to tip. Other rescues included climbing on every object in the house upon which I could climb, even door jambs. There was not a tree I could not climb, or a ladder, or a fence I could not go over. One late fall day, I scaled the backyard fence. The main irrigation canal is a few feet from our house. That rescue included a willow switch.
For Mom, her Mother’s Day was different each day of the week. It constituted different tasks she accomplished. Monday was laundry day. Beds were stripped and remade with clean sun-dried sheets. A wringer washing machine cleaned the clothes. Wet laundry was dumped into a basket and hauled outside. Countless wood clothespins secured laundry on wire clotheslines to dry. The time In between laundry loads consisted of dishes, hand washed, furniture was dusted, floors were swept, and rugs vacuumed. Bathrooms cleaned including mirrors.
- Tuesday; the day of ironing. She sprinkled the clothes with water to dampen them. She rolled the sprinkles of laundry set aside. Time for the daily stuff; Making beds and sweeping floors (a daily ritual in the dusty southwest).
- Wednesday was a dedicated break-down day. Let’s take the kitchen. On one Wednesday she would empty one cupboard at a time. Removed old shelf paper. Each shelf was washed and dried. Clean shelf paper lined each shelf and she cleaned each item as she put it back neatly on each shelf. Every inch of the stove was scrubbed back to showroom clean on a different Wednesday. Next on the list, that same day was doing the same thing to the refrigerator. And the usual daily cleaning, bed-making, and floor-sweeping.
- Mom’s Mother’s Day Thursday was baking day. Cakes, pies, bread, and cookies for the week. And the usual daily stuff.
Preparing for the weekend:
- Friday was grocery shopping day and cleaning for weekend guests. Mother always expected guests at the house. Dad told her he had invited guests for the next evening’s dinner.
- Saturday was a casual day after she finished the usual daily stuff. Trips to Balboa Park or met with friends. Sometimes to the beach or had guests at the house for a barbeque, party celebrations, or just dinner.
- Sunday we went to church. After church my Dad’s favorite thing to do was a Sunday drive; for miles and miles and miles.
Decorating for every holiday was a big deal in our house. Each Holiday was honored. The day after Halloween, Mom started decorating and planning her Thanksgiving Day dinner for a house full of guests. Boxes of Christmas decorations appeared the day after Thanksgiving. Christmas decorations gave way to birthday decorations by January, third in preparation for my sister’s birthday. It was like this for every holiday on the calendar that we celebrated.
I realized just how much my mother did running a house of my own. At home, I never realized the extent of her daily routines. Don’t get me wrong, I saw it. I took it for granted that she was always there. At 11 or 12, Mom included us in the daily routine. She taught us and was always there to direct and take up the slack if our assigned projects were stretching out too long.
In all honesty, can a Mother’s Day gift and card be inadequate to acknowledge everything this marvelous caring, giving person person did for us? Is there on the face of the earth that can capsulate the extent of gratitude? I often wondered if she knew how inadequate I found my words and those in cards. Or if she understood the tokens given were from a heart trying to express all I felt for her?
On the right side of the page, fill in the registration form. We send you emails to keep you informed on time-sensitive items and the latest trends without overloading you with emails.
Next, put your mouse over the envelope to the left and push. By connecting with us, we answer all your questions about this page and all other questions about this site. Thank you for visiting. Come back often