Mother and Child watching each other (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Every May we celebrate our mothers on Mother’s Day. There is no one on earth who loves us more – a mother would give her very life to protect the life of her child. As women we don’t often realize how much our mothers sacrificed until we are grown and have children of our own. Here are some memories that I have of my mother.
My earliest memory is sucking in my gut so I wouldn’t get pricked with the safety-pin while my mother changed my diaper.
I used to love it when my mother washed my hair and then brushed it while we watched a TV show together.
Once when needing a booster shot I pushed the doctor into his examining table. My mother had to stomp on my foot with her Dr. Schultz wooden shoe so that the doctor could give me my shot. I was screaming so loudly that when we exited the office, we noticed the Waiting Room had emptied out! I can only imagine what the children and their parents thought of this terrifying episode.
My mother used to feed us little treats out of the bulk bins while she shopped for groceries. In fact, any time I opened my mouth to speak, cry or complain, she was ready with a lollypop or some kind of food item. This may explain why I weighed 36 pounds at thirteen months old!
Saturday was cleaning day. Once my brother and I yelled out through our parent’s bedroom window, “HELP US! – OUR MOTHER LOCKS US UP WITH CHAINS AND FORCES US TO CLEAN THE HOUSE!”
My mother, when frustrated, would call me by every family member’s name. “Heinz, Michael, Diana just clean your room already, it’s a pig sty!”
My mother went to every parent/teacher interview. There she would learn from my teachers how I had warned them to only say good things about me or they would surely be killed by my mother.
My mother is hard of hearing and is very skilled at lip-reading. So when most kids felt they were safely out of ear shot, mine was confronting me on things I said across the street.
When my first boyfriend, Steve picked me up for our first date, my mother warned, “Have her home by ten or I’ll snap you like a twig!” I was home at 9:30PM. Another time she saw him walking as she was driving and in a matter-of-fact way reported to me, “I saw your idiot boyfriend walking down the street with a Pepsi bottle on his head.”
Every Christmas Eve my mother hustled us upstairs to get dressed while Santa (dad) noisily slammed the front door and put presents under the tree. At Easter there were the egg hunts; the Easter Bunny (mom) was a clever Hider of Treats. And then there were the many road trips to Upper Canada Village, Niagara Falls, New York, Ohio, New Brunswick and the numerous flights on Lufthansa (the best airline in the world according to dad) to Germany to visit my omas, opa, aunts, uncles and cousins.
There are too many memories to list here and the truth is I was quite a handful. Yet my mother kept on loving and protecting me. For many years our relationship was strained. But I have grown to appreciate her sacrifices and we now enjoy an adult relationship as friends. Two years ago, we began a tradition; hopefully one that will continue for many years to come. For the first time for either of us we went on a two-week tropical vacation. This trip has become something I eagerly look forward to every January and it has strengthened our relationship in surprising and delightful ways. See pictures below.
Mom by the pool
Mom – Incognito
Mom with one of the animation team members
Me and Mom with new-found friends from Holland, Edith and Ed
What are your favourite memories of your mother? How has your relationship with her changed over the years?
