Picture of the day - September 25, 2005

Mom & Hannah Working On A Flower Bed

Mom has always loved working in her flower gardens, and she still does at age 78. Today, she had a bit of help... One of her flower beds had become overgrown with weeds and its short log retaining wall had decayed and fallen over - a major rework was in order! My brother and some of my nieces and nephews decided to help her out by digging up the old flower bed and replacing the old logs with new ones. Always one to want to be in the middle of the action, my young niece Hannah wanted to help as well. Mom let Hannah move a few rocks, then she spent several minutes explaining to her what she was doing and why she was doing it. That's mom for you - always very eager to pass along some of what she has learned over the years to the younger generations. I remember many times during my childhood when mom would teach us kids how to do something in the garden, the kitchen, the sewing room...whenever and wherever something needed to be done. With eight kids to feed and take care of in addition to working a full-time job, she had to teach us how to help out around the house and farm. There were times when I would have much preferred playing or watching TV, but mom would have us kids working at something. We didn't realize it at the time, but she was actually teaching us what we needed to know in order to make it on our own when we grew up. You see, mom had it very hard when she was growing up and she wanted to make sure her children and grandchildren understood how to work and live in the real world. She was a great mother to us then and she still is today. I didn't always appreciate everything that mom did for me or even realize just how hard she really had to work in order to raise her children the way she felt we needed to be raised. And so it was with church... Quite often I would grudgingly get ready for church on Sunday morning or Wednesday night. Mom let it be known that there would be no "layin' out" if she had anything to do with it. If it was Sunday or Wednesday you went to church - period. I thought it was awful for her to make me go to church when I could stay home and play or hang around with dad. Today I thank the good Lord that she loved me enough to want to see me live a Christian life. Mom's entire life has revolved around the people she loved, and she practiced "tough-love" long before the Psychologists had even figured out what it was or what to call it. Today, she leaves the "tough-love" part to her great-grandchildrens' parents, but she still offers plenty of love to all who will accept it.   Picture Of The Day Homepage | Submit a photo Interesting Articles