Remembering Mom

Today is Mother’s Day the biggest day of the year for long distance phone calls as children from all over the country call their moms. My mother “went to be with The Lord” a little over 4 years ago. I think about her a lot but especially today.

When I remember Mom I think about how hard she laughed when ever she saw the “Vita-meata-vegamin” episode of “I Love Lucy” or the one where Lucy dresses like an Indian woman with a Papoose and manipulates her way into Ricky’s show.

I think about the movies “Singing In the Rain” and “For Me & My Gal” starring Gene Kelly or Danny Kaye in “The Court Jester.” She always laughed at the part where he's trying to remember the silly rhyme that tells him which glass has the poison. Ever since she was a young girl in Trenton New Jersey my mom loved movies. As a wife and mother she usually only got the chance to see them on TV but that didn’t mean she didn’t look for her favorites. She loved the old MGM musicals.

Mom taught me to appreciate the pop culture of the past including the movies, TV Shows, and Big Band music.

However one of the most amazing things I remember about her is how she kept a family of 4 with a single income. My dad was the only one who brought home a paycheck while I was growing up. Mom sometimes made some extra money by babysitting in our home. Mostly she stayed home with my sisters and me. She specialized in making ends meet. Sometimes I think Dad got the better end of the deal.

I remember her recipe box filled with ingredient lists and instructions on cooking a wide variety of casseroles. She made them with anything from corned beef hash and Bisquick to macaroni, corn and Spam. She was the casserole queen. To a lot of people her concoctions may not have seemed very appealing but she managed to feed our family with them. We never went hungry. We enjoyed just about anything she put on the table. However she did miss the target occasionally. I especially remember a less than enthusiastic reception for the hard boiled eggs wrapped in ground sausage and deep fried. (ugh!)

To this day I occasionally prepare a batch of her “Souper Burgers.” It’s a sloppy Joe type mixture made with crumbled hamburger, condensed alphabet vegetable soup, catsup and mustard served on a hamburger bun. It may not sound very good to you. But to me it’s the ultimate in comfort food. Every time I make it I can’t help but think that Mom’s on a cloud somewhere smiling.

Of course the most significant financial maneuver I remember mom managing every year was the ability to provide us with Christmas presents. Without much money she used to populate the area under the tree each year with plenty of wonderful things for all of us.

She did this by saving what she could from my dad’s pay and selling toys from catalogs. Every year she’d host several “toy parties” and turn her commission into toys and gifts for her children. It was an annual act of selflessness that started in September and didn't end until Chirstmas Eve. Mom was our Santa Claus.

Lastly and perhaps most significantly I remember mom's faithfulness when it came to God and her church. For most of her adult life she did everything she could to get people to church. She would call them on the phone and invite them; she would drive out of their way to pick them up and take them home. When she couldn’t get people in a local nursing home to church she took church to them. She faithfully held a Friday morning church service at a nursing home for over 20 years.

As I pointed out at her funeral some people wouldn’t have been there that day if it wasn’t to honor her memory. It proved just how far my mom would go to get people to come to church.

Although I miss her very much today I know that she’s in heaven with my dad and with her savior, Jesus Christ. Despite feeling sad I hold out the hope that I will get to see her again someday. What a reunion that will be! Happy Mother’s Day, Mom