Sunday, May 14, 2017

Happy Mother's Day--May 14, 2017


Happy Mother's Day!!

Things continue to be very busy here, so I am going to rerun one of my Mother's Day posts from before. My mother is a remarkable woman and this is just a small glimpse into who she is.

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Happy Mother's Day

I come from hearty stock. Thank goodness, because raising babies in my family is not for the faint of heart. Just ask my mother.

She gave birth to my oldest sister, Daughter Number One, as young woman one year after she married my father. She said at that point she knew as much about taking care of a baby as she did about being a plumber (not much). My sister did all of the fun things babies do like cry a lot for no apparent reason and never sleep. But soon my sister learned to talk. And talk. My mothered yearned for quiet.

Two and a half years later, Daughter Number Two was born. She followed in the footsteps of Number One and cried a lot for no apparent reason and never slept. Then she learned to walk. And run. And climb. And to never be afraid. She climbed the banisters, moved the furniture, scared the neighbors, and had the fire department rescue her from a drain. She didn't talk much, but that didn't matter, because Number One talked enough for both of them.

Three years after Number Two, I was born. I just didn't cry for no apparent reason, I cried ALL of the time. I cried so much that I burst my tear ducts. I cried so much that the neighbors took me with them when they delivered groceries. They hoped to provide some relief for all involved. I consumed every minute of my mother's time. Meanwhile, Number One talked and Number Two was “busy.”

My mother was tired, but the kids were happy.
Then the miracle happened. Daughter Number Four was born four years after me. She only cried when she needed something. She slept regularly. My mother was afraid that something was wrong with her. She didn't understand this kind of baby. Meanwhile, Number One talked, Number Two was busy, and I cried easily, but we were manageable now—at least compared to before. For a little while, my mother could breathe and just be very busy raising four young girls. That was until my ailing grandmother moved in. But that's another story.

My husband has a theory that the number of kids in a family is equal to the number of easy babies plus one difficult one. Thank goodness my parents didn't subscribe to that formula or I wouldn't be here. I want to thank my mother, on this Mother's Day, for not giving up when I'm sure she wanted to and giving me a great start to life.

14 comments:

  1. Happy Mother's Day! Oh my goodness, I feel for your mom!

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    1. Happy Mother's Day to you too, Nathalie! There are many more stories to go with this summary. She did indeed have her hands full. Who said girls are easier?

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  2. Wow, hats off to your mother, and to you for this tribute!

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    1. Being a mother is never easy, but sometimes it's harder than others. I will say as we got older, we got easier and easier. But my parents were given a run for their money when we were little.

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  3. Your poor mom! The good thing is, all of you sound like you are very dedicated to her now. Her love and patience paid off.

    Hope you had a terrific mother's day!

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    1. And on top of everything else, my father worked a lot of overtime. So she was alone to deal with a lot of our antics.

      We are very dedicated to our mother as I'm sure most people are. But I will say that she modeled good behavior for us as she took care of my grandmother for years as well as her older sister. And when we were young she would cook for the elderly in the neighborhood and have us deliver it. I didn't realize it at the time, but having a child visit them was almost as important as the food.

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  4. Happy Mother's Day! Your mother sounds like a wonderful lady!

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    1. She certainly knew how to work hard to be a wonderful mother to us.

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  5. I love this post! I personally think boys are a little easier, probably because you don't have to do hair!

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    1. When we got older, we were certainly more calm that my son's were. But then again, they were more active than typical. I didn't have any brothers and I didn't have any daughters, so it's hard for me to make comparisons.

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  6. Great story :) Family planning had a whole different meaning a few decades ago.

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    1. And despite all of this, we are pretty evenly spaced.

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