My mom was one tough cookie!
She managed to survive an early life of abuse with an alcoholic father and a mother that required her constant attention and care. My mom's job at a young age was to care for the sick and elderly in a nursing home.
Mom married young and ended up being the main bread winner of the family when my dad caught a really bad case of polio and spent time in an iron lung. He wasn't able to work after that so she worked at a grocery store and managed to take care of her two daughters (I wasn't born yet.)
Once he was better (and I had arrived) she did the unthinkable for a woman of that era and got a divorce, moved away with three young girls, and settled us with my grandmother and her new husband. My mom had to work full-time as a grocery clerk to pay my grandparents to let us live with them.
A good man came into her life and married her along with her three daughters, but her life was never easy. She was a hard woman to get along with and would argue about everything. Seriously, there was no subject that didn't rile her up and get her going. Politics and religion were dangerous things to talk about around her.
To say our relationship was rocky is a huge understatement.
But...
because of her I learned to:
be independent
not expect someone to take care of me
work hard
sew and quilt
bake and decorate cakes
do service for others
never be selfish and share with others
love genealogy and my family's heritage
She's been gone several years and I miss being able to ask her "how to" from her wealth of knowledge.
She was such a smart woman!
Thanks, Mom, for teaching me so many things...good and bad.
Happy Mother's Day!
