BetterMost, Wyoming & Brokeback Mountain Forum

The World Beyond BetterMost => Anything Goes => Topic started by: injest on April 24, 2007, 12:51:40 am

Title: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: injest on April 24, 2007, 12:51:40 am: ok...something a little different.

We all have Moms...some living, some have passed. Some we get along with...some we don't :P.

but they are our Moms.

Here is a thread to offer us a memory of YOUR Mother. Tender, funny, loving....she is your Mom, Tell us about her. Tell us a story about your Mom. If you feel comfortable post a picture of her. A poem that speaks of her.

Your choice...
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: Lynne on April 24, 2007, 01:03:58 am: This is a nice idea for a thread, Jess! Good work....now I have to pick one of a zillion crazy mother stories....and maybe even a mother-in-law story - those are priceless too!
8)
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: Ellemeno on April 24, 2007, 02:07:48 am: Nice idea. Help me remember to banner it a week or so before MDay.
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: injest on May 12, 2007, 10:29:28 am: No one has a story they care to share?

Ok here is one from me....when my brothers entered their teens my smaller brother and sister (Tammy) were still very young (five or six) My sister was still in the mudpie and 'seed and grass' soups stage

One ay my oldest brother was asleep on the living room couch and a bag of pot fell out of his pocket. My mother came thru saw it, picked it up, looked at it for a minute...and said "Must be some of Tammy's 'soup' mix" and tossed it onto the coffee table.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: dot-matrix on May 12, 2007, 02:57:59 pm: This story was published by the San Francisco Examiner for Mother's Day in 1994 and was later republished by Scholastic Update in 1996. It seemed appropriate to share it here...I hope you all agree.

"Tell me what you were like when you were my age," I asked my mother, Chee Lee one winter afternoon when I was home from college.
My mother stopped her sewing and looked up, surprised at my question. After what seemed like a long time she answered, "I was never like you. I never dreamed of being a lawyer, professor, or anything, other than a wife, mother and grandmother. I was the eldest of twelve children, and every waking moment was filled with work and responsibilities to keep the family clothed and feed. Back then, there was only one career for girls, and it was being a hard-working woman."

My mother grew up in Laos where, like most other people from the Hmong tribe, she lived with her family in a remote mountain village. She fled her homeland during the war in Vietnam, and became one of the thousands of Hmong people now living in the United States.

Most Hmong refugees brought little with them but their traditions--including the custom of marrying young to preserve the race under adverse condition. In Hmong culture, honor, respect, and family solidarity take precedence over individual desires--and men, the bearers of the family name, take precedence over women.

"Men are important," my mother would tell me when I asked why women always ate last during any kind of a celebrations. "They are stronger and wiser-- therefore they always eat before us."

That winter afternoon, I sat in silence as I listened to my mother. "This story is shameful for me to tell you because I should know better than to hold a grudge against anyone. But I hated my mother when I was growing up. I worked so hard for her. Every night--before washing the dishes, sweeping the floor, and preparing rice for tomorrow's meal--I would go into my parents' bedroom, wash their feet with warm water, and tuck them in for the night. Not once did my mother ever said, 'thank you,' or 'Chee, you're a good girl.'"

I stared out of the window, remembering how I grew up, always wanting to hear a word of praise from her, and getting only rules and expectations I could never live up to. I remembered the years she made me get up at six every morning and cook breakfast for the family before leaving for school. I remembered the slumber parties, dances, and after school sports I missed because she didn't approve of them. Most of all, I remembered the times she'd compared me to other girls my age and found me lacking.

My mother looked down at her sewing and continued. "Nothing was ever good enough for my mother. I was glad to leave her when I married your father. Well, it's too late to tell her now, and she wouldn't understand anyway. And I know she did love me, even if she never said so. If she didn't, she wouldn't have cared whether I did my chores correctly or not."

I was too shocked to speak. Growing up, my mother had never initiated a serious conversation with me. It was always lectures about my attitude, clothes, and hairstyle; about how I'd have to control my anger and thirst for knowledge in order to be a good wife.

Through generations of famine, disease, and war, Hmong women had taught their daughters what they needed to survive: how to cook, clean, haul water, and manufacture textiles; how to be productive, obedient, respectful, and patient. But as a teenager growing up in America, I found it hard to take these lessons as evidence of love.

"I told you this story for a reason," my mother continued. "Yes, I have many children, and I love them all. But you are my first child, the first in everything to me. I've been very strict and hard on you, but I raised you in the only way I knew how. I am proud of you."
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: dot-matrix on May 12, 2007, 03:27:39 pm: It’s been 9 1/2 years since my mother passed away, there are so many things I try to remember about her. I do know she would hate for anyone to shed any tears for her but I still miss her so much and with the big life events like our wedding and now the adoption it hits me so hard that she isn’t here. I only hope I can be half the Mom she was.

She had 2 surviving children and 1 was the youngest. Before my brother Teddy was born she and my Dad had begun to think they would be childless. They had been married 12 years and had 6 miscarriages. I remember her vividly as 1 was growing up but especially I got older. I want to share all I can about my Mom with my baby and my nieces and nephews.

She taught me so much with her love, warmth and laughter: to be forgiving, loving, strong not in words but by her actions. MY Mom loved her family and spent her life making our lives better.

One of my favorite memories is of one snowbound afternoon sitting in the kitchen while she baked pies and my brother Teddy and I trying to tell more Elephant jokes than she did, she’d tell one, then one of us would tell one, and we could not beat her…she knew them all and then some. We laughed and laughed. There was always lots of laughter in our home. I thank my Mom for that.
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: injest on May 12, 2007, 05:05:51 pm: Thank you Dottie.

What a tribute to your mother. I think she would be very proud of you.
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: serious crayons on May 12, 2007, 05:50:31 pm: One thing I always remember about my mom happened while I was in the hospital for a couple of weeks with hepatitis. I was 19, and had to stay there over Christmas and New Year's. I didn't even feel that sick, but my doctor had had bad experiences with soldiers dying of hepatitis during WWII, so he was paranoid. I hated being there, and was desperate to get out. I was so unhappy, my condition was actually getting worse.

I hated the hospital food, and for some reason I kept craving twice-baked potatoes. The doctor encouraged me to eat lots of carbohydrates. So my mom made several big batches of twice-baked potatoes and brought them to my room hot, in thermal cannisters.

Finally, I left the hospital, against the doctor's orders. The doctor said I would die, in fact. But my mom trusted me enough to bring me home to her house. I was better in a week.

My mom is still alive, but she has Alzheimer's. She can barely carry on a conversation. But she still recognizes my voice.
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: injest on May 12, 2007, 06:03:17 pm: It's funny, Katherine, how many of our memories are keyed by foods....

Thank you for sharing that.

I am glad that your mother still knows your voice...I hope it brings you some comfort
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: Meryl on May 13, 2007, 12:09:00 pm: (http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h269/merylmarie/mumsy.jpg)

It's my fourth Mother's Day without you, but you're still very much with me.
Thank you, my dearest Mom, for a lifetime of love and precious memories! :-*
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: injest on May 13, 2007, 12:11:27 pm: {{{Meryl}}}

Thank you.
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: Front-Ranger on May 13, 2007, 01:18:15 pm: I feel a lot of ambivalence about my mother and I think many people feel the same way. How can you possibly do justice to a person who has given so much, to whom you literally owe your life? And thus we often develop a complicated set of feelings which may easily include resentment and downright hostility. So, I will honor and try to emulate the First Mother, the mother of all mothers. She may be called Mother Nature, or Demeter, or something else, but I like to think of her as Mary. The Mary that Michelangelo sculpted who sits in St. Peter's Cathedral with the body of Jesus on her lap. To me she represents unconditional love, the pure and limitless love that sees the potential in her child and empowers that child to live his or her dream. That is what I aspire to in being a mother and, though I know I'll fall far short, I want to get as close as I can. I know I can do it because somewhere back in the early days of my life I had that experience with my mother. I know it because I feel its loss and its absence and I just want to be there again, even if it's in a dream or in death.

A little story about my son. When he was about two years old, my son decided that he'd like to put his clothes on by himself. The only trouble was that he was trying to put on his shorts while climbing up the stairs at the same time. Finally, he gave up and collapsed on the stairstep, crying out, "Hard do, Mommy!" I told him, "You can do hard things" and I picked him up and put him at the bottom of the stairs where he finished dressing and was very proud of himself. To this day, I tell my 15 year old son, "You can do hard things" and he can!!
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: injest on May 13, 2007, 07:16:15 pm: Thank you Lee!
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: Ellemeno on May 13, 2007, 09:33:02 pm: Quote from: Meryl on May 13, 2007, 12:09:00 pm
(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h269/merylmarie/mumsy.jpg)

It's my fourth Mother's Day without you, but you're still very much with me.
Thank you, my dearest Mom, for a lifetime of love and precious memories! :-*

What a lady! :-*
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: Ellemeno on May 13, 2007, 09:33:56 pm: Wish I had rememembered this thread was here in time to banner it for Mother's Day. Sorry!
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: Luvlylittlewing on May 13, 2007, 09:56:30 pm: Quote from: ineedcrayons on May 12, 2007, 05:50:31 pm
One thing I always remember about my mom happened while I was in the hospital for a couple of weeks with hepatitis. I was 19, and had to stay there over Christmas and New Year's. I didn't even feel that sick, but my doctor had had bad experiences with soldiers dying of hepatitis during WWII, so he was paranoid. I hated being there, and was desperate to get out. I was so unhappy, my condition was actually getting worse.

I hated the hospital food, and for some reason I kept craving twice-baked potatoes. The doctor encouraged me to eat lots of carbohydrates. So my mom made several big batches of twice-baked potatoes and brought them to my room hot, in thermal cannisters.

Finally, I left the hospital, against the doctor's orders. The doctor said I would die, in fact. But my mom trusted me enough to bring me home to her house. I was better in a week.

My mom is still alive, but she has Alzheimer's. She can barely carry on a conversation. But she still recognizes my voice.

This is a great story! Thanks so much for sharing!

I'll always remember my mom's caring during my pregnancy, and well after my daughter was born. When I gave birth, I was so terrified that I had a tiny creature to care for, and I didn't know the first thing about taking care of my baby. My mom realized that I was scared to death, and she took a 2 week leave of absence from her job to be with me. I wanted to be a nursing mother, and gave it a try. Alas, I couldn't make enough milk to properly feed my daughter. My mom was the first to notice this, and like Mrs. Newsome, she went out and bought me a "whole box of formula!"

My mom is now 80 years old and doing well. We almost lost her this past fall, but she pulled through, and is now back, preparing elaborate meals, going to church 2 times a week, continuing her charity work. And she is still helping me with my child. I am so fortunate to have my mom in my life!
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: injest on May 13, 2007, 09:59:10 pm: Thank you LittleWing!!

Your mom sounds so lively and supportive.
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: dot-matrix on May 13, 2007, 11:33:09 pm: This is one of my Mom and I, when I was home the summer before she got sick.

(http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/7561/scanyp7.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: injest on May 13, 2007, 11:39:28 pm: {{Dot}}

:) :) ;)

Thank you
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: Luvlylittlewing on May 14, 2007, 10:12:09 pm: Quote from: injest on May 13, 2007, 09:59:10 pm
Thank you LittleWing!!

Your mom sounds so lively and supportive.

And thank you, Injest, for your kind words. I am so lucky to have that wonderful woman in my life!
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: serious crayons on May 14, 2007, 11:14:42 pm: Quote from: dot-matrix on May 13, 2007, 11:33:09 pm
This is one of my Mom and I, when I was home the summer before she got sick.

Hey Dottie, there was a feature in the Chicago Sun-Times yesterday with photos of mothers and daughters who looked amazingly alike posing together. From the photo you posted, you and your mom could have been in it! :)

Littlewing, nice story about your mom and the 120 cans of formula! And nice to see you here! :D
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: dot-matrix on May 14, 2007, 11:20:37 pm: Quote from: ineedcrayons on May 14, 2007, 11:14:42 pm
Hey Dottie, there was a feature in the Chicago Sun-Times yesterday with photos of mothers and daughters who looked amazingly alike posing together. From the photo you posted, you and your mom could have been in it! :)

Thank you Katherine, except for the fact that Mom was 5'4 and I'm 5'10" my Dad use to say we were two peas in a pod ;D
Title: Re: Next Project! Bettermost Mother's Day Tribute! (see first post)
Post by: Front-Ranger on May 14, 2007, 11:55:58 pm: Guys have moms too, right?? ???