A Pre-Mother’s Day Hodgepodge…

Happy Hump Day!  The week is half over, and it’s time for another edition of Hodgepodge.  It’s also almost Mother’s Day, so I’m going to take this opportunity to wish all of my blog friends a “Happy Mother’s Day”.  Today happens to be our oldest son, Brett’s birthday, so I’m going to take this opportunity to wish him “Happy Birthday”, as well.  Brett was my Mother’s Day baby, and so he made Mother’s Day of 1982 quite memorable!  He was born 4 hours, 7  minutes after the day had ended at midnight! Happy Birthday, son.  I love you!

1. Share a favorite memory of your mother or share a favorite something from your own life as a mother.

Most of my favorite memories, as a mother, center around holidays or the children’s birthdays.  I always took great joy in planning for their birthdays, Easter, and Christmas.  I’d start planning well in advance, and usually went over-board in the gift giving department, but it was fun!  I wanted my own children to have better childhood memories than I have, and I think they do.  I wasn’t a perfect mother, but I gave it everything I had!

If you’re a mother (or stepmom) tell us how your experience as a mom differs from your own mother’s experience.

For most of my childhood and adult life, my mother wasn’t a very stable person.  I didn’t know it at the time, but she was bipolar, which meant lots of ‘ups and downs’.  She [and my father] struggled with alcohol, as well.  There were some good times, but, as you can imagine, there were a lot of not-so-good ones.

I was bound and determined to give my children the kind of stable, happy home life I never had, and I think Ed and I were successful in that.  We both tried to set good examples for our children, and I hope they have lots of good childhood [and adult] memories.

2. In May we celebrate teachers (May 9) and nurses (May 6) both. Most every family has at least one in their midst, so tell us something (or a few things) you appreciate about the teacher or nurse on your family tree.

Ed’s mama worked as an office nurse for many years.  She loved her job very much, and worked long hours!  She was quite dedicated, and worked until she was in her 70’s.  She’s passed away now, but we have another nurse in our family, these days.  Our youngest son, Brad, is married to a nurse!  Our DIL, Jennifer, is currently working for an orthopedist.  She, too, is quite dedicated and works long hours.  Anyone who has ever worked beside Jennifer will quickly tell  you she goes above and beyond duty.  We love and appreciate her for the difficult work she’s chosen to do.

3. Chicken salad, egg salad, tuna salad…which would you go for if all three were on the menu?  That’s a tough choice because I like all three, but I’ll go with tuna salad.

On bread or a bed of lettuce?  I prefer tuna salad on a bed of lettuce, but we usually just eat it on bread.

If you answered bread, what kind of bread would make it the perfect sandwich? Honey wheat.

4. Do you have a desk?  Yes, we have an old computer desk, but we no longer use it.

Is it organized? No, not really.  It has little spaces for organizing things, but there always seemed to be clutter on top of the desk.

If you don’t have a desk, where in your home do you take care of family paperwork and business?  These days I usually sit in my favorite chair (in the living room) and use the laptop.  Occasionally, if I have a lot of things to take care of at once, I’ll move to the kitchen table.

Where do you normally sit to blog?

I sit in my favorite chair.

5. When I was nine years old…. my parents lived across the street from the elementary school, for a short time.  I walked home for lunch each day, then walked back to school, afterward.  After school, I often walked back over to the school and played on the school playground.  Good memories!

Random:

Those of you who read my blog regularly probably know that Ed and I often visit a local assisted living facility (Alzheimer’s unit), for church services on Sundays.  We’ve had some interesting experiences while there, and last Sunday we had another one.

We’d just finished the song service, and our son was preparing to read some scripture and preach. A new resident, Barbara, who was still holding the song book, suddenly asked what page he was reading from.  He explained to her that he was now reading from the Bible.  She didn’t have a Bible of her own, and there weren’t any available, so I offered Barbara my Bible to follow along with.

Now, before I go any further, let me explain that I’m very attached to my Bible.  It’s a Creative [journaling] Bible that Ed gave me last Christmas.  It’s already filled with all kinds of notes I’ve taken, it has beautiful illustrations for coloring, and I just love it!

Well, things were rolling right along, our son was reading and preaching out of the book of Romans, and I was sharing Ed’s Bible with him…  About that time, the lady with my Bible got up and left the room–and she took my Bible with her!!!  Oh, no, I thought!

I couldn’t decide what to do, without causing a disruption, so I did nothing…and she never came back!  As soon as the service was over, and we’d said our goodbyes to those attending, I took off on a search for my beloved Bible!

As it turned out, during the service, the lady had been summoned for a phone call, but I didn’t realize this.  In fact, she was still talking on the phone when we found her–and there lay my Bible on the dining table.  Whew!  That was a close one!  However, I think I’ll make sure I carry a spare Bible from now on:)