Saturday, November 18, 2023
My Mom
Story # 2
For those of you who grew up in the community with my mom, you knew her to be kind, caring, the person that was there for you in the event of an upcoming event, like a shower, or wedding. She would always bake for everything that she got invited to, and always attend with pride. She was happy to help any family, friends, or people in the community, whenever she was able to help.
At a young age, we didn’t realize this, but Mom, was OCD. To a child, we just thought she was strict, and honestly, just a pain in the butt for being so particular about everything needing to be put in its place. She kept such a clean home. I remember when I had my kids thinking to myself this, my mom’s floors were so clean you could eat off of them, and my floors have so much food on them, from the kids, that you could eat off of them, NOT THE SAME THING.
I honestly don’t know how she did it most times. Meals were always cooked by a certain time, she managed to always have us prepared for school, and she would even call the bus driver, Tofe, to tell him to wait for me, because I didn’t get up on time. She made sure we had clothes to wear and food for our lunches. Dad was the only income provider, and he would get laid off several times, so money was not always there, but she made things work. That was my mom’s number one goal, make things work, no matter what.
Growing up with the OCD thing though, and not knowing what it was, or understanding it was a hard challenge. Thanks to my mom for passing this somewhat down to me, lol. I can be that way too at times now, but at least I know what it is, and can work on dealing with it. My mom had a place for everything, and everything had to go back in its place. Dad might have been a carpenter, but mom also had her own set of tools, and God could strike me down right now if I am making this up, but there were two rules, and rule number two was that you never took, or borrowed moms tools without it going back in its exact spot, in the condition that it was taken,.....and rule number one was, and this was your safest thing, never take mom's tools.
Our dad had quite the sense of humor for his time, age, and education. He chuckled so often, especially when he was referring to mom. One day, he nudges me, and says, I think she got imaginary lines going around those pots, because I think she knows when I just move them an inch. Then he looks to see if she is looking, and just gradually moves the pots an inch. I had to laugh. Another day he says, I bet you if that box of 350 toothpicks falls on the floor, and you pick them up, and there are five missing, she will know that they are missing, lol. She was a very accurate person, always knowing where everything was, everything should be, what we have, and what we don't.
Looking back, in her world, from her point of view, the main thing that was important to her, was her family, and keeping things organized and functioning for everyone. Doing whatever it took to keep a small house, with five people living in it, clean, and organized was a full time job, and she did it well.
