Showing posts with label Dad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dad. Show all posts
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Flashback.....
While at Starbucks and looking at the CD display, I saw a compilation CD of old songs and recognized one by Rosemary Clooney - Come On-A My House. It was playing on the radio during one of our yearly trips back to Minnesota and caused quite an arguement between mother and dad. Mother was singing along with the radio and dad was quite upset about her singing that "hussy" song. I didn't know then what a hussy was but figured it probably wasn't too bad because mother kept singing.
We kids enjoyed the trips but they were hard on our parents - four (eventually five) kids in the back seat, squirming all over the place and asking every hour or so, "aren't we there yet?" We four (eventually five) had our space staked out and it was war if someone got too close or, heaven forbid, touched us. Being susceptible to car sickness I was often allowed to sit in the front. It didn't take me long to know how to use that - a feeble, "I don't feel so well" got me moved up quickly to the front. Mother frantically told dad to pull over and stop because she thought I might urp in the car - can you imagine traveling 2k miles in a car that's been urped in? No, and neither could she.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Remembering
My mother at 18. Can you imagine an 18-year old wearing a bow in her hair today?
We spent yesterday evening with some very good friends. He had had cataract surgery earlier in the day and wanted the company. Jack was very comfortable and his wife said the surgery only took about ten minutes. Actually, the only sign of surgery was the eye patch that both said was going to be removed this afternoon.
My dad had the same surgery some years ago but recovery took a bit longer for him. He had no complications but was very frustrated at not being able to play golf for a while. During his retirement he discovered golf and was very good at it – even getting a hole-in-one more than once. Something I still haven’t done!
Mother had also needed cataract surgery but kept putting it off until it was too late. When she became bed-ridden during the last months of her life, she said she regretted not having had the operation; her sight was so bad that reading was difficult and her only diversions were watching TV or having visitors. She loved company and people enjoyed hers. After she passed away I had many of her medical records and on one her doctor had written what a gracious and pleasant lady she was. She was.
Though in many ways my mother and I are alike in one respect we are extreme opposites; she loved having people do things for her and was very good at letting them think it was their idea. She never taught me that art – I try to do everything by myself and only ask for help as a last resort. DH thinks I'm stubborn but I think it's more a matter of use-it-or-lose-it.
We spent yesterday evening with some very good friends. He had had cataract surgery earlier in the day and wanted the company. Jack was very comfortable and his wife said the surgery only took about ten minutes. Actually, the only sign of surgery was the eye patch that both said was going to be removed this afternoon.My dad had the same surgery some years ago but recovery took a bit longer for him. He had no complications but was very frustrated at not being able to play golf for a while. During his retirement he discovered golf and was very good at it – even getting a hole-in-one more than once. Something I still haven’t done!
Mother had also needed cataract surgery but kept putting it off until it was too late. When she became bed-ridden during the last months of her life, she said she regretted not having had the operation; her sight was so bad that reading was difficult and her only diversions were watching TV or having visitors. She loved company and people enjoyed hers. After she passed away I had many of her medical records and on one her doctor had written what a gracious and pleasant lady she was. She was.
Though in many ways my mother and I are alike in one respect we are extreme opposites; she loved having people do things for her and was very good at letting them think it was their idea. She never taught me that art – I try to do everything by myself and only ask for help as a last resort. DH thinks I'm stubborn but I think it's more a matter of use-it-or-lose-it.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Mother and Dearie
Mother and Dad
Big smiles, both look so happy. Would this have been the year Mother gifted herself with a mink stole? She wanted one, he said no, she bought one, wrapped it up, opened it Christmas Eve and let everyone think it was from him. He didn't say a word otherwise.
They met when she was divorced, had three children and was supporting her family by working for the telephone company while living with her sister (Amy) and her family. When Mother met dad, she laughingly told Amy, "He's short, bald and I'm going to marry him." Before she accepted his proposal she made him promise we three kids could continue going to parochial school. He kept his word even when things were tough financially.
I didn't hear that story until after both Mother and dad had passed away and it helped me better understand their relationship. They were so different. She was very open-minded and he was the opposite. Their arguments were intense. She could and would go toe-to-toe and nose-to-nose with him. But he was a good provider and her choice. I recently read letters she had written to him when they were newly married. He worked out of town and came home on weekends and it looks like she wrote him nearly every day. In the letters she calls him "dearie." Dearie. I'm discovering something new every day!
Re Mother's comment about dad being "short, bald": according to her sister, because their brothers were tall the sisters all preferred short men. Only one sister (the tallest) out of five married a tall man. And dad wasn't bald but he did have a lot of forehead. ;-)
Big smiles, both look so happy. Would this have been the year Mother gifted herself with a mink stole? She wanted one, he said no, she bought one, wrapped it up, opened it Christmas Eve and let everyone think it was from him. He didn't say a word otherwise.They met when she was divorced, had three children and was supporting her family by working for the telephone company while living with her sister (Amy) and her family. When Mother met dad, she laughingly told Amy, "He's short, bald and I'm going to marry him." Before she accepted his proposal she made him promise we three kids could continue going to parochial school. He kept his word even when things were tough financially.
I didn't hear that story until after both Mother and dad had passed away and it helped me better understand their relationship. They were so different. She was very open-minded and he was the opposite. Their arguments were intense. She could and would go toe-to-toe and nose-to-nose with him. But he was a good provider and her choice. I recently read letters she had written to him when they were newly married. He worked out of town and came home on weekends and it looks like she wrote him nearly every day. In the letters she calls him "dearie." Dearie. I'm discovering something new every day!
Re Mother's comment about dad being "short, bald": according to her sister, because their brothers were tall the sisters all preferred short men. Only one sister (the tallest) out of five married a tall man. And dad wasn't bald but he did have a lot of forehead. ;-)
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