This is my post for #memoirmonday #45 What is one of your favorite memories of your mother? hosted by @ericvancewalton
My favorite memories of Mom are the stories she told me about her early life living at the inlet.
My Mom left her hometown of Fall River Massachuttes when she was 13 and married my dad when she was 15, he was 32. (Yes, I think the same thing, dirty old man, but that was how it was back then.)
They were living near Miami but in the Everglades and moved to the Inlet in 1952 or 53 they lived in a tent with Dad's other two children, Mom was also pregnant with my brother who was 2 years older than me.
Mom told me that Dad finally started building them a house to live in but she said it had no roof for a long long time, it had a tarp stretched across the top of it.
This house is in the picture, on the left side next to the car. It was not a very big house for 5 people, my brother was now born. It looks more like a small shed to me. Mom is standing on the right in front of Dad's first store, I see it had a roof.
To use the bathroom you had to walk to the end of a dock over Lake Henry. Dad built two docks with outhouses on the end of each, one was for women the other for men.
I need to say that Dad had to bring the lumber there by boat and I am sure he could not get much wood on a small riverboat.
I was too small to remember when Dad built this house but I am glad he put a roof on it. It had 3 bedrooms and one bathroom. I was 9 years old when we got electricity.
Mom said she would get a bushel of oysters and shuck them, she said she would put them in jars and sell them to the people who came there to fish. She would keep them inside the house until they sold, we had a block of ice inside the refrigerator, Dad had to buy block ice for the house and store from an ice plant 25 miles away. He had a generator he ran a few hours a day and at night.
I was two years old when this picture was taken. I can remember mom making all of our clothes, we had the house with a roof, but had not got electricity yet.
Mom had a Singer peddle sewing machine. I can still see her peddling away making our clothes. She always made matching clothes for me and my sister 2 years younger than me. One dress that I can remember was red and white striped with a waist. When I spun around, it would flare out.
Mom used to take us to the skating rink, Mom loved to skate. I loved to watch her go around the rink, sometimes dancing on them and even going backward, spinning around, I can still see her doing this. All I could do was watch her while I held onto the wall.
One day my oldest sister broke her arm and Dad never let Mom bring us skating again.
This might not be a favorite memory but around this age, I remember having to take naps with my mom, she would put me in the crook of her arm and hold me until I went to sleep. With it being summer and no A/C or fan, her armpit smelled and I kept trying to get my head away from it but she kept putting me back where it was comfortable for her to hold me. I would give up trying to get fresh air and fall asleep.
Other than her death, this was one of the most painful memories. We had to move and this day was the last time I saw her for a few years. I am standing behind Mom.
This was a happy time, Mom came to see us in Missouri, I am on the far right and Mom is next to me. She had never been on a horse but she rode like a pro. She is on Blue, he was a gentle soul. The coat I am wearing is what Mom brought from Florida to Missouri for her to wear but when she saw I did not have a warm coat to wear, she gave me hers.
I remember my mother's kind heart, no person was a stranger. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter dinners were for anyone who wanted to come and she always wanted to send food home with everyone.
For over 30 years Mom took care of people with Alzheimer's and cancer in her home, she kept them until they passed on. The care she gave them was the same as you would give your newborn or toddler, she kept them fed and clean, she took a lot of abuse like being hit and many times she was left bruised because someone bit her. I never heard her raise her voice to any of them. She knew they did not mean to hurt her.
One day I was at her house and she had dish towels hanging on every doorknob. I asked why and she said they do not know it is a door if they can not see the doorknob. The doors that went to the outside, had special locks, but a dish towel worked on the inside.
Of all the things I miss about you, Mom, I especially miss this.
photos are mine
