I am blessed because I had a Mother who . . . 

 

Read to me

In appreciation, I once gave this book as a Mother’s Day present to my mother. It came back to me when we sorted through her books and papers in 2014.

 

A well-worn book Mother read to her children

 

 

Sang with me songs I learned in Sunday School

 

Made good food

Mother slicing pig stomach with baked corn and a stick of butter close by

 

Taught me how to re-create family recipes, a memoir moment:

The day before, I had helped Mom make Aunt Verna’s potato salad with lots of celery, the way she liked it.  

As my mother took cool green stems out of the refrigerator, she warned handing me a knife, “Marian, now don’t cut yourself!”

Then she showed me how to fold my fingers tucked tightly together like a little claw away from the blade as I diced three long stalks. First, I cut each one lengthwise and then with a “chop-chop,” sawed off celery bits in tiny segments starting from the skinny end. Mom mixed in five hard-boiled eggs and added a few sprigs of parsley on top.  (Full recipe in glossary)

“See how nice that looks,” she said. “And it’ll taste just as good as my sister’s!”

After I went to bed, I smelled the sweet, rich aroma of angel food cake baking in the oven for the special birthday surprise for Grandma Metzler. I didn’t know Grandma Annie Metzler as well as I knew Grandma Longenecker, but I know my mother thought highly of her for stepping into the shoes as a farmer’s wife and mother to six children after her mother Sadie died when Mom was only nine years old.

 

Enjoyed eating good food

Mother enjoyed Christian Women’s fellowship in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania. I attended one Tuesday in 2003 when mothers were honored.

 

We miss mother . . . 

My sisters and brother after Mother’s memorial service at Bossler Mennonite Church in early August 2014. We wear wan smiles. Only our brother’s expression reveals our true feelings.

 

Other Mother’s Day Posts:

An Orphan Speaks

Baby Beads and Wooden Blocks

 


 

 

I am Blessed because I had a Brother Mark . . .

Our beloved little brother went home to be with the Lord this week. Sometime next month I will publish a proper tribute to his kind heart.

August 30, 1953 – May 22, 2018

Note: The first part of this post was scheduled for Mother’s Day. Because of circumstances, I am combining this with an update about my brother Mark.