Today Mom would have been 92. Sister & I are going to Friendly's to celebrate. Mom's favorite ice creams were Maple walnut-butter pecan. Well, I probably won't have either of these, since I am not a lover of any kind of nuts in my ice cream! The last year of Mom's life was hard for us; harder for my sister since she chose to care for her. Dementia is not a pretty thing to witness...think child-like only it's more than that. Roles are reversed and the mother becomes the child. We were reared to "honor thy father & thy mother" and so that meant we were to take care of her to the end. She was a music person, graduating from Syracuse University in piano and voice. She told me one time that she had wanted to be any opera singer; something that takes much practice, I'm sure. However, I cannot identify with the opera too much...but Mother sang in the church and hard stuff that one doesn't hear any more in church. I can only hope that she is singing these praises to our Lord Jesus in Heaven right now.
Mother was a willful person, ecpecting that her children would do the challenges that SHE desired for them. It has held me in good stead....standing in public singing with her as a child, memorizing church "pieces" and learning to enunciate and PROJECT so that she could hear me in the back row (that was the test), and not quitting on anything that I attempted to do. Figure out how to overcome the obstacles and complete the ideas. Now that ˆI call myself and art bear and art doll artist, I find myself laying awake at 2:30 am. trying to figure out the ways around the project so that it comes out looking "good" even if the piece takes on it's own personality. All of Mom's five kids had their own personalities; we all fooled her in that respect. And now I find my creations do the same thing to me. So as Risha & I go about our plans for today, we shall think of Mom and her many influences on us. Risha beads; she sings, too--all encouraged by Eleanor Elizabeth DeWaters Button!
No comments:
Post a Comment