I remember....
On weekends she would let us "camp" out in the living room, with the biggest bowls of greasy popcorn you could ever imagine. We would watch TV until we could keep our eyes open...
Camping out in the backyard, with the hose for a babbling brook, and a small grill for a campfire...
Playing hide and seek...aye, Mom played with us sometimes, but she always found me...I think she peeked!
Roasting marshmallows using the gas stove, until they were black and gooey...I think she liked it more than we did..
Treasure hunts. On some of our birthdays and other holidays, she would sometimes send us on treasure hunts with clues, taking us from one place to another until at least we would find the special gift she had gotten for us.
Making houses out of leaves...and out of snow when it got cold..
The lilac bush we would hang the hose over so the water would run down the slide, and we would get drenched as we played...
Her hugs--I was not the best of children, Lord knows I was always into something, scraping my knees, or tearing my dress...and she was always there with a hug, so warm and safe.
The day that I dumped two boxes of corn flakes on the living room floor, mashed them in, then, fed a pound of butter to the dog, before stuffing potatoes down the toilet...yikes!! did I ever get it for that...
The day I got stuck behind the toilet, and the fire department had to be called to get me out...don't ask...it is embarassing...!
The day I wanted to see how blind people rode bicycles....and I ran into a parked car, sliced my foot open, and wound up with a good many stitches...yea, I know, wasn't the brightest thing in the world to do, but gee, at the time, it sounded fun!!
The day she became my best friend...
The first time I sent her roses....she kept them and pressed them in a book. Recently, Tiki sent them back to me, along with the card I sent her.
Her rose bush that Dad planted in front of the house. It took forever to blossom, and like the turd I was as a child, I cut the first bloom....ooo did I ever get it for that too!!
How I would call her each week...and sometimes more, when I was feeling down, and by the time I hung up, I would be laughing, because she had the ability to make me look at my silliness differently...
That she always believed in me...no matter what I chose to do, and that she would let me go with love, and the knowledge that if I fell flat on my face, she would be there to help me pick up the pieces and go on.
The funny way her face scwunched up when she was playing a prank on someone...
How she would tell me my eyes would stay cross eyed if I did that too much...
How when she was mad at me, she suddenly couldn't remember my name, and when she finally did, Mom would use all three of my given names...and boy did I get it then!!
How brilliantly blue her eyes were, and the delightful scent of her perfume. The way she did her hair, and after all these years, I can see that she was truly beautiful.
Silly little things....like the way she ran or walked...how she would ride bikes with my kids, putting my daughter up on the handle bars...
The day she put the worm on her own hook...