My Mom, by Jim Patterson
My mom had a hug that was warm and soft and wrapped around you like a fluffy winter coat. It made me feel so secure and loved.
My mom was fun, we would have lick fights, I would pretend to be a loving son that was going to give her a kiss, and then I would lick her all up side the face, and the chase was on until she caught me , held me down gave me a liking back.
My mom was stern, if you needed a spanking you got it right then and there. I have 2 or three of these spankings burned into my brain, and she never had to worry about me doing that again.
We knew when mom was mad , she would get into her pots and pans draw and rummage around for about a half an hour making just as much noise as she could, as to warn everybody, don’t mess with me today.
My mom loved camping, at Nichols Lake, Benton Lake and blue lake. She would have dad set us up at blue lake for 1 to 2 weeks at a time. He would drive back and forth to work from there, we would hang out and make friends and go fishing, swimming, and of course plenty of camp fires to sit around and talk. She loved to play yatzee, and if you didn’t scream yatttzeee, when you got one, well you just weret playing right.
My mom loved Halloween and chrismas, she would always decorate to the hilt and have a lot of fun with it. She made us Christmas stockings every year and filled them with candy and toys and small presents. She still made us stockings well into adulthood; I think I was about 36 years old when I received the last one.
My mom was a great cook, she made cookies and pies and cakes, and you always got you special birthday dinner that she made just the way you wanted it.
She was the hamburger queen. She could make hundreds of different meals out of a pound hamburger that would feed 4 kids and a husband. And o yes, that famous cake I always told my wife about, the longer it sat around the moister it got, ooo that was good cake.
My mom loved Elvis Presley, I mean really loved Elvis, she loved him from the time she was a teenager, she had all of his music and movies, When he died she balled and balled was sad for days. She kept a full sized cardboard Elvis on her porch for years.
A second love was Jeff Gordon, for years she watched NASCAR and routed Jeff on and of course would get upset when the Meany Dale Earhart, “who couldn’t ever speak English”, in her opinion, would pick on her pretty boy Jeff.
Most of all mom was her own woman. When she decided to go back to school and get her diploma, she did it and was so proud. When she decided to go out get her first job outside of the home, she did. Fore the first time she brought home her own money and bought new furniture with it , and again she was so proud. When she decided to get a divorce from my father it was so hard for her but she knew in her heart it was what she needed to do to save her own sanity, she was so brave. When she met Don Kurtzer, fell in love and moved to Nebraska with him not knowing what may lay in store for her there, again she was so brave. Then when she heard that her first grand baby was on his way there was no stopping her from moving back to Muskegon to be with her family. She ever stopped smoking cold turkey, for the good of her grand children.
I have missed my mom for a long time now, ever senesce the altzimers took her away from us, but now that the final chapter has been written, I know she is with god and in peace, and that someday I will see her again and again feel those warm soft hugs.##imported-begin##Jim Patterson##imported-end##
