Mama

Once upon a time another mother said she wanted her son to spend the night at our house because they didn't have any games or "interesting" things to do at their house and she didn't know what to do to entertain the boys.  I immediately thought about my own mama.  We surely didn't have any kind of exciting games to play.....unless you count Monopoly and the sort (I'm not a game player).....and she certainly didn't entertain us.  Although I was glad for the boy to stay at our house, I said to the other mother.....I don't think they want to be entertained, I think they just want you to be there.

I'm not sure she knew what I meant by just being there.  At the time, I don't think I even bothered to explain.....but as I write this about my own mama, I'll tell you what I meant.  My mama was there.

My mama was a beautiful young woman when she married my daddy way back when.  

Here she is with her own parents.

When my daddy asked my mama to marry him, He gave her an engagement ring with three little rubies on either side of the diamond.  Daddy said he wanted to have six children, three boys and three girls.  I'm pretty sure when my youngest brother was born, he said.....Margaret, I was just kidding!!!

But Mama aimed to please and sure enough had three boys and three girls.

Mama with her first three children, My brother, Tommy, my sister, Cathy and me!  

Until I married, I only lived in two houses in my life.....these pictures are in the first one, which I don't remember because we moved when I was fifteen months old.

One more of Mama with her first three

Many, many years later with all six....sure enough! Three boys and three girls!  From L to R, brother Michael, sister Debbie, brother Steve, sister Cathy, me and brother Tommy and Mama in front!

Mama was many things, wife, mama, chief cook and bottle washer.  Once my oldest brother was born, mama didn't work outside the home until we were all gone and she worked one or two days a week at my daddy's office.  

She was there.  She was always there when we got home ......after walking 20 miles uphill through the snow.......  from school.  She was there waiting to hear the click of the door closing when we came home after a date.  

She was there when she had four children the youngest only a year old and one got really sick and was homebound for a year, in a hospital bed.

She was there when the many things life brings brought us to a place of need.

She was there for her own mother when she could no longer live alone.  

She was there for so many who needed her, always there.  

She was there to pick up the pieces when we were older and needed help!

She was there when her oldest grandchild had surgery for cancer and my brother and his wife were expecting their second child.

She was there when my sister and family were in a catastrophic wreck and needed her to come stay for a time.

She was there for me when I was going through a painful divorce.

She was there for my younger sister when she was going through fertility treatments and joyful when little sister had her son.

She was there when my younger brother was going through a personal crisis and needed her.

She was there when her baby boy was in a painful divorce and custody battle .

She was there.  We knew we could always count on her.  We knew she prayed for us daily and still does I'm sure.

She was there for every grandchild and their children, recording their every moment on video.

She was and is funny!  She gave us her incredible sense of humor which enabled her (and us) to get through many a hard moment or ten.  

Here she is with her younger sister at the beach.  Mama found those little captions and loved putting them on photographs!

But actually, they were pretty hot stuff.  Mama and her three sisters were known as beautiful girls around our county.  They all became beautiful women, wives and mothers.


You could just about tell mama anything!  As the years wore on, nothing much shocked her and she would listen to whatever was going on in our lives.


Mama doesn't talk so much anymore, but she sometimes comes out with something so funny!  A week or so ago, while I was visiting, she wouldn't say anything....not a word!  I stood over her and said in a very distressed voice,  "mama, I'm worried, say something".....she looked up at me and said "something!"  


She loved my daddy.

And her family.....

I'm of the mind that children need to know their mamas are there.


So on this Mother's day I just want to say thank you mama for always being there.  I love you.