Happy Mother's Day

Hibiscus

5" x 7"

watercolors

Here is a flower for all of you mothers on your special day.

For several years, I had huge red Hibiscus growing in my front flower bed. The blossoms were the size of dinner plates. They died out when cold weather came, but returned even larger each spring.

One summer morning, I went outside, expecting to see the gorgeous flowers. I was shocked to see an empty flower bed! There wasn't even a leaf or stem left, to show that there had ever been flowers there. I guess something ate them during the night. There wasn't even a sign of a hole or a root left.

But, I had a few photos and several paintings that I had done to remember them by.

I don't remember actually celebrating Mothers Day very much when I was growing up in Calvert. It seemed like a sad day, to me.

We went to Sneed Memorial Methodist Church, as we did every Sunday. Mama played the organ and I either sat in the choir or with great aunts in the congregation. People who had mothers who were living wore a flower of one color, while others, whose mothers had died, wore a flower of another color. Sometimes, we got our flowers from "Toot's" rose bushes across the street at her house. Some men would buy corsages for their wives. But, times were hard, as they say, and money was not spent on a lot of extra things like flowers. Although the women in my family seemed to really like flowers and their yards.

I just thought that the men were not very romantic or thoughtful of their wives. Especially when we got to church and saw that some ladies had corsages from the flower shop.

We always had our usual Sunday dinner, at some family member's home, with red roast and red gravy as the main dish. The women had to cook, as they always did, so it didn't seem like anything all that special. We did it almost every Sunday. The women worked, the men rested, ate, read the paper, went out to check the cows while the women cooked, served the meal, and cleaned up. Then there was nap time, and our Sunday ride to the country or to A&M.

The only difference seemed to be in those flowers, and some special music and things about mothers at church.

In later years, when my children were little, I got the usual gifts made by tiny hands at school. But one of my most memorable gifts was that one which seems typical of little boys. I was sleeping late, that particular Mother's Day, tired from a week of teaching. My children got up ahead of me, and I could hear them plotting a surprise. And, boy, was I surprised!

They came in from the back yard, tip toed into my bedroom, and I knew that they had brought me something. I thought it must be a handful of wild flowers or something that they had made.

My son put the suprise into my hand and all I could do was to jump up in bed and scream! I quickly dropped his gift as I screamed.

I saw the disappointed look in his face, and I was sorry that I was such a scaredy-cat girl.

I gave them both a hug, and took the flowers to put in some water.

But, I told them, "Take that frog outside!"

My gift was a handful of wild flowers, and a nice fat green frog!

But, you know, that is probably the Mothers Day that I remember the most.

This year, we are going to have red roast and red gravy. I keep telling my family that dinner is at noon, lunch is in the afternoon, about tea time, and supper is at night. So, when I say Sunday dinner, I mean that to be 12 noon! I guess they are getting citified ways. We've been talking about having red roast and red gravy for Mother's Day dinner. I was disappointed that it wasn't started until noon to be ready for tonight. To me, if you say dinner at night, that means a fancy meal with candles and the good china, silver, and crystal.

So, I guess we will have our Mother's Day Sunday red roast and red gravy tonight. Maybe I should get out the good dishes for that. One grandson has to work, so it will be supper by the tv, I'm sure. They made themselves a sandwich for dinner, and I had some potato chips. Sure doesn't feel very special. (Of course, I tell myself , when I eat a potato chip, "Isn't that a delicious baked potato!" And I feel like I have eaten a nice baked potato. I got used to doing that when I worked and didn't have time to eat during the day. )

We will have a trip to visit at the nursing home, then work on supper, dinner, or whatever you want to call it.

Hope you have a memorable Mother's Day, filled with good memories.

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