mother's day madness

I learned a lot of valuable things from my mother, not the least of which are talents for writing and cooking. Her particular brand of recipe is the old southern staple of butter and sugar, much like Paula Deen. Her biscuits were to DIE for, not big fat fluffy ones but thin crispy ones that melted in your mouth. I've seen my daddy eat ten of 'em covered in purple hull pea juice or syrup. There were sliced home grown tomatoes every day and she fried them up green when it wasn't 115 in the shade. The oven was on daily making either the beloved biscuits or cornbread and always making it a "red face" supper for her. We loved every minute of it because it was great food prepared with love. She never sat down until we were all served until about five years ago when the cooking and serving was turned over to us. I visited with her today and we made plans for me to sneak off from leave the sawmill for brunch at Daylight. If I'm not mistaken, that's what we did last year. There are some things you just don't skip. The last few times I've been there, she urged me to take her pink ladies jacket back to the hospital. Daddy's red coat still hangs in my closet along with her wedding dress. They are my heritage and personal history and I think Big Ernie everyday that the one potential buyer for that dress never showed back up.

BG and I sat on the back porch, allergens galore, and talked today. We've been through so much together that we really don't even have to mention a memory but once and the other "gets it." I see my mama's mind slipping away at times yet this morning she recited the names of every member of a local family up the street from their family compound on Pate. She and her sister Nancy grew up there and their grandmother was next door up the hill past the alley. My daddy's mother lived across the street. Needless to say I was properly cared for after school. I remember little things from that time, like where I was when JFK got murdered.

There is this vintage photograph of my mama and her sister as children beautifully dressed in blue and bows and smiling like good little girls. I've had it in a frame that a dear friend gave to me 20+ years ago and it makes me smile to see it every time I pass by. They were born into the best of times when life was not so complicated. The financial blessings of a hard working man who was once in a traveling band managed to get them all over the country for things like the World's Fair and whatnot. This was the boom time following WWII in which I was born.

I think that the most valuable lesson that I've learned from both father and mother is that you should always help those who don't have as much as you because it's what J would do. I guess that's how I became co-dependent. Nah, I blame that on the South.

Happy mother's day to everybody and you're next ^j^