Things my mom actually did in her adventurous life ...
- Sewed shirts from a pattern.
- Invented the dookie bar.
- Changed irrigation tubes from a Chevy station wagon.
- Shot a bull snake out of our treehouse with a .22 rifle.
- Learned to cut her children's hair herself.
- Drove a school bus full of noisy children.
- Operated a country store and café.
- Operated a concession stand at the local stock car races.
- Fried chicken every day for dinner (noon meal).
- Always had enough on the table no matter how many sat down.
- Figured her husband's fortunes by the ton on a one-arm bandit calculator.
- Lodged freezing newborn pigs in the mudroom of her house.
- Put up with nightly football in her front yard from August to
February.
- Read to her children when they were little.
- Showed up at more baseball games than any other irrigating momma.
- Laughed 'til she cried the night the Chihuahua ate me in Vetville.
- Raised three toe-headed kids that turned out alright.
Things for which I should thank my mom ...
- Only making my shirts until the third grade.
- Helping us recapture and adapt the dookie bar recipe years later.
- Having dad save me when all she could see was my hat floating in the ditch.
- Not shooting my dad when he finally arrived to shoot the snake.
- Teaching me to earn my own money and buy my own haircut.
- Letting us on and off at our bus stop instead of riding her whole route.
- Only operating a store and café for one summer.
- Getting us into the stock car races every week for free.
- Finally quitting the fried chicken lunches.
- Never getting excited when we brought a friend home for supper.
- Keeping track of her job and the family business bookkeeping.
- Not leaving any creature out in tough elements.
- Not running us off her mistreated lawn like other mothers.
- Inspiring me to read and eventually to write.
- Showing us she cared by being there for everything.
- A decade of running paper routes with her children.
- Being a very understanding and loving mother.
Karl Terry, a former publisher of the Quay County Sun, writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:
[email protected]
