My mom

Mothers Day has always been hard for me. I lost my mom 3 days after I turned 15 years old. This July makes it 20 years since she's been gone. I miss her terribly and so wish she was still here with us.

First of all, the pictures. The first one was taken (obviously) at my wedding. It's me, my dad and my step-mom, Bev. (I'll talk more about her in an upcoming post.) The second one is one of the few pictures I actually have of my mother. It was taken the last Christmas she was alive (about 7 months before she died.) That particular picture is always funny for me as not only did her and my dad match, but my dad's got a Hitler mustache in it.

A little bit about my mom. Her name was Rose and she was one of the most incredibly funny and nice people you'd ever meet. She knew everyone and was involved in so many things. First and foremost, she was a stay at home wife and mother. Our home was always open to any of our friends and family. Our friends wouldn't even have to knock on the door and could help themselves to food out of the fridge. My mom loved to entertain and cook. She was 100% Polish and made some of the best meals I can remember. We didn't eat out much as we couldn't afford it but we didn't really mind. Her cooking was much better than anything you could get at a restaurant. I think excess was a good word for dinner and get-togethers. It wasn't uncommon for her to have made several different kinds of potatoes for dinner so there would be a variety. (Like mashed, au grautin, etc all at the same meal!) Most everything my mom made was home-ade and from scratch. I never ate instant potatoes til after she died. I think she considered them sacreligious!

She was a large woman especially for that time in the world. There were no Wal-Marts or Lane Bryants so large women had to make their own clothes. I remember watching her make them which was neat.

She loved Christmas most of all. This was her favorite time of the year and anything that would sit still long enough had tinsel, mistletoe or some other Christmas Decoration strung on it! I remember I hated the mistletoe. She had these little bells with mistletoe inside and they literally hung from each and every door in the house and they hung so low you'd always knock your head on them walking through door ways. We would have Christmas parties at our house with lots of people. One year we did a home-ade taffy pull which was a blast! She always made several goodies at Christmas, but the 2 I remember most were Peanut Butter Balls and Kolacky's. Kolacky's have always been my favorite and now I make them every Christmas.

My mom was very involved in our school. She was president of the PTA and started a library at my school when we didn't have one. She always seemed to be there and everyone pretty much knew my mom. She would sometimes come into school in the middle of the day and bring treats for us and crafts she had made for the whole school.

She was a crafter! I remember doing all kinds of crafts with her when I was young and I remember both she and my aunt Carolyn tried to teach me how to crochet but I just couldn't get the hang of it. I remember in the evenings in front of the TV that my mom would be crocheting an afghan and things like that. She had one thing she did which I remember very clearly (and I don't know why she did it!) I remember she'd have a brand new skein of Red Heart yarn and the 2 of us would sit there and unravel the whole skein and re-roll it into a ball so she could crochet easily with it. She had to have balls all over the house instead of skeins!

My mom watched all the soaps on ABC starting at 12:30 with Ryan's Hope, going through All My Children, One Life To Live and then of course General Hospital. I remember GH the most as it was on when I got home from school and we'd watch it together. Actually my mom didn't really watch them all but she more or less had them ON all day and listened to them. She didn't have the time to sit in front of the TV all day.

Well, those are just a few memories of my mom. She was a wonderful woman and I miss her dearly. Happy Mothers Day Mom!!!