From my mother....buy quality, not quantity.

Mother's Day has always the hardest time for me-since my mom died in 1985. As a baby/toddler-she always dressed me in pretty pinafores & a sunbonnet, then proudly wheel me to town. During my elementary years, she had life very tough as my dad divorced her and never gave her one cent of support money for my brother & I. She was cooking for 80 cents an hour in those days. Lean as things were in those times-somehow she always managed to have shrimp for us every Xmas Eve!
In fact after she passed away-every Xmas Eve for 5 yrs, I'd journey up to her gravesite & lay a half dozen shrimp on her grave!
She was always so caring and nurturing to me. As I became a teenager-she was my best friend. I was NEVER afraid to tell her anything and she always gave me sound advise.
I guess I'd have to say if I were to chose one special time spent with her-it would have to be our trips to NYC. She loved Broadway & we'd go 35 miles into Scranton to catch a bus into New York about once every 6 months. One time-our bus was to leave at 10am. It was around 2am the night before & neither of us could sleep. She said 'Let's go now & have breakfast in NY!" And we did...LOL! I remember being in Macy's in the Hat Department. We'd try on all of the big, fancy hats-some hideous ones that were really off the wall, then stand there & just giggle about how funny we looked. Oh-and I will always remember how every time we'd get in the car, she'd turn on the radio & sing & sing until we reached our destination.
Some of the wisest lessons learned from her:
1. Always say something nice to at least 1 person every day, to make them feel good.

2.Always have fun at your job-you'll have to work, so you may as well choose a job you like and have fun earning your money.

3.She was a professional cook for 30 years & taught me well and I followed in her footsteps for 35 yrs. She taught me to always make a weekly dinner menu, then make my weekly grocery list following that menu to avoid buying unnecessary items. She also said that when I had both a job & family, to make life easier for me- each evening-start prepping for the next night's dinner-be it peeling the potatoes, cooking a roast 2/3rds done, bake a pie-whatever..so I wouldn't be too tired to put a good meal on the table when I came home. Wise woman was she!!

Lastly..never go to bed mad.

I miss her so very much but every so often a dove will fly by my window and I KNOW it's her!

My mom made sure I knew right from wrong. I'm not dead or in jail, so I guess she did OK.

"If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right. If not, don't do it at all."
Every time I sew and have to rip something out, I feel my Mom looking over my shoulder, smiling that I DID listen at least once in my life.
My Mom was 59 when she died......39 years ago last week.
She had a disabling stroke when she was only 48 but she still lived by doing things right, even though it would have been so much easier to do it the easy way.
She also taught me to follow the Golden Rule.
Thanks, OJ for starting this post.

My Mom turned 90 this year and I guess I learned from her to not take things too seriously, "this too will pass"; and to have a quiet strength which she has had plenty of to survive all things she did.
Clare

Thanks OJ for starting this.

My Mom is 81 and still going strong.
Things I learned from her:
1. A successful marriage is 90% give and 10% take.
2. Work comes before play.
3. If you do a job do it right the first time.

Her favorite saying is, "If you don't like my gate don't swing on it."

Ron

My Mom always let the kids pick first, she always got the last pickle in the jar. She had 4 kids in 6 years. I know I could never do it. She managed to feed us all even when Dad was unemployed, once it was 3 years. She had a garden, and canned and froze food, made her own ketchup and jelly. I live 500 miles from her, but I speak with her almost every day. Her best advice "Most things turn out allright." Patience.

Family first!

What I learned from my Mom was how not to treat your children.

I remember that as a child, my sisters and I would walk up to the bar in our pajamas, to get our Mom...that she married a man and never told us until after we were moved in the middle of the night, to another state...her not believing me, when I told her he almost strangled me, while holding me against the steam radiator...letting us know that we were a true burden to her...her stiffening when I hugged her...her never once telling us she loved us--ever........

So, in essence, she taught me a lot. How NOT to be like her.

I need to add one more very impotant thing Mom taught me;
If you need to wipe your dirty hands on your pants, do it down below the knees, it'll be a lot less noticeable.

Ron

Lots of things learned from her in various ways, by both example, verbal, and yes, her mistakes too!

- Simple things in life are great. Don't get hung up on materialistic things.

- Doing things for others makes you feel good, even if they don't appreciate it.

- Doing what's (and excuse the term) right even if it's to your own detriment.

- Take responsibility for yourself. Admit when you're wrong, and do what you can to make up for it.

- Comfort food is GOOD food!

- Life isn't fair. Deal with it.

So much more. And I guess a lot of things I can't think of offhand.

Oh, so many things, but probably one of the best and most important was her letting me see a wonderful, constantly evolving love affair/marriage that lasted 57 years until my dad died. She said that she has "made a rut" across the grass to his grave in the last eight years.

On their 50th anniversary I put an ad in the local newspaper and it said, "Happy 50th Anniversary! You've taught us all what true love really is." (and they did!)

Vicki lv nv
I am so sorry you had such a awful childhood.
(((((Vicki)))))

I miss my own mother more than words can say. She died six years ago. Turns out, I'm married to someone who "doesn't celebrate" mother's day (I'm his wife, not his mother) so I'm very much looking forward to this day being over.

Counting the hours...

Rose

My mother was a wonderful woman but I thought she was very strict, until after I had my own shildren and then I wondered why she was so lenient.

I think the three most important things she taught me were truthfullness, honesty and that no matter how bad things were, you could always smile, even if you couldn't say a word. One of my friends recently commented, when I was going through a very rough time, that I still always smiled.

Thank you Mom!!! I still miss her terribly even though she has been gone for 34 years.

ivamae

Thank you Carol.

(((RosemaryT)))

Here is a lesson from my "other Mother" with whom I had a conversation about an upcoming "situation" I knew I was going to have to face, and I knew was going to potentially be quite uncomfortable and unpleasant.....(30 years ago)

She said:

"Be gracious and be a lady"

I was, and the event was benign as a result. Good advice to all young girls, even now.

Hi vicki lv nv,

I also want to tell you how I regret that you had so many trying things to cope with as you grew up.

How hard it would be to lack a leader, guide, disciplinarian and role model as one made one's way through childhood.

To be someone who "just growed"!

And my admiration that you have trained yourself so well and can have been the kind of Mom to your kids that you didn't receive.

((((((Vicki lv nv))))))

ole joyful

My mother said when I left home to remember who I was and remember whose I was. She was a hard worker and went back to college later in life. She was a freshman in college the same year I was a senior in college.

I learned to be frugal from my mom, how to cook, and not to play your kids against each other like she did us.