Mother

Mother with my oldest daughter, Ann, who is pregnant with Mother's first Great Grandchild. That was December, 2004

Mom in 2005 - probably 85 or 86

I like to remember the people in my past. Of course I think of my mother almost daily. Mother was born September 6, 1919 and died April 5, 2006. She was 86, soon to be 87. She was Edith Nelson Northcutt Wilkerson. She married Daddy(Frank Godsey Wilkerson) August 3, 1947. Daddy died August 8, 1993.

Mom, of course, taught me a lifetime of lessons, and as I blog I expect that I will often talk about the things she taught me on a daily basis. As is so often the case, I didn't even know I was learning so much until I was well into my adult life. Mom was of that WWII generation. They understood the power and the value of daily disciplines. I am a baby boomer, so who knows what we have passed on to our children. Time will tell. I think it's been talked about, what we are passing on, but I'm of the opinion that most of us will have to be 80 plus, or into eternity, before the culture knows for sure.

Below is a youthful picture of Mom. I don't have a scanner, so I had to take a picture of a picture. Hence, the fuzziness of it. Below that picture are a few things that remind me so much of her. I have so many things. The plaid dishes are some that I have reordered off of Ebay. Mom received a complete set of those as a wedding gift in 1947. They came from an upscale gift shop in Troy, AL, a gift from my Dad's brother and his wife. Over the years the pieces were broken and eventually there was none left. When I learned how to use a computer, these dishes were some of the first things I found on the search engine. I began to order a few pieces at a time and have built up my collection. They are Organdie Plaid, by Vernonware. There's a juicer, and a blue vase, a glass vase, and a photo which is hanging in my kitchen. In the photo is Mother, my sister in the middle, a friend in the foreground, and I am on the right. We are in the kitchen and Mother is on the phone, smiling. I'm guessing Daddy was photographing the scene, and she is looking back at us, smiling. I've always loved that picture, even as a little girl. It was such a typical slice of our life.

Mother was blessed with a heart to love God. She pointed us toward Him. She also was blessed with a strong, yet gentle character. Here's the thing....we were all very typical. We were real people, imperfect. There was always tolerance for mistakes, irritations, but there was just such a safe feeling. Also, we laughed so very much. Lots of laughter. I inherited from Mom overactive tear ducts when laughing. Her eyes watered, my eyes water. We loved to laugh. Mom was one of 4 sisters. They all stayed in the same South Alabama town, along with my grandparents, and I grew up with 10 cousins, plus my sister. There were 12 cousins. As cousins we felt more like siblings. It was a delightful existence.

Now I am going to end today's rather serious blog, which was unintentional, the sober nature of it, with a verse which I found when I was about 25. I believe that most everyone can feel what it is saying.

Thanksgiving in the Nursery

Oh, for an hour in that dear place!

Oh, for the peace of that dear time!

Oh, for that childish trust sublime!

Oh, for a glimpse of Mother's face!