Laurie's post

 This post is by Laurie (with minor smoothing out by me) in honor of her Mother on the anniversary of her death.  

Mom in wedding dress

I want to honor and remember my Mom, on the anniversary of her death, 41 years ago.  I planned to attempt a beautiful poem, but couldn't come up with one, so I guess I'll just describe my favorite memories of her.

I was very close to my Mom, so I spent a lot of time with her.  Among our favorite things to do together were baking coffee cakes, cookies, and the like.  She loved to make fudge from scratch, and give it away to others. She often gave it to the ladies at the Briar Room, a restaurant where my late brother Paul and I had our first jobs.

Brothers Paul, Art, and Chuck

I always loved coming downstairs on mornings when the smell of fresh homemade dough rising on the heater vent, ready to be turned into cinnamon rolls.  We also spent a lot of time listening to her favorite Country music stars like Jimmy Dean and Tammy Wynette, and playing backgammon and other games.

She didn't drive; so walking was one of the things we did often.  On summer evenings we would walk down to the 'two trees', about a quarter of the way between US 30 (where we lived) and Highway 14, on Doyle Road.  On many of those summer days- and even a few winter ones- we would walk to downtown New Haven and stop at the Bakery, both to grab a doughnut or two, and visit with my Grandma, who worked there.

My Grandma

 Then, we might do some shopping at the Dan Purvis Rexall drug store, which was a large store at the time; we could buy all kinds of things, including our favorite penny candy!

These walks often included one or more other siblings, and from those days I have two favorite memories.  One was a walk we took after the roads had been plowed from the Blizzard of '78.  The piles of snow were so high, we couldn't see the highway from our house, except from upstairs.  The other was when my sister Mary and I were in our teens.  We were making the "honk" gesture to the passing truckers, as we went; one time we got honked without making the gesture.  When we asked why he would have honked at us, Mom said, "Well, it certainly wasn't me!"

Laurie and Mary

___________________________________________________________

I remember a loving woman, who would have me stand in front of a mirror and say, "I like you", to myself when I was down on myself for whatever reason.  She would often go to bed early and I made it a point to go into her bedroom and give her a good night hug and kiss.  I think the words of a Bread song says how I have felt for these 41 years:

And I would give anything I own

I'd give up my life, my heart, my home

I would give everything I own

Just to have you back again 

Just to touch you

once again