You can ask her age, and it’s up to her to share. She’s not shy about it, and if you think as I do, age is truly a badge of honor. Still. It’s just a number and we all know numbers don’t mean everything!
Between her birthdate and mine:
- 19 years, 8 months, 14 days
- 236 months and 124 days
- 7,198 days
- 621,902,200 seconds
- 10,365,120 minutes
- 172,752 hours
I am her oldest, therefore I’m probably the one who received most of the testings and trials of a new mother (!!). Through my growing up years, I forged the way for my siblings to have an easier time of it. But think about it like this, mom got to try out all of her skills of parenting on me! Into my life the energy landed. That’s not to say my siblings did not try to find new ways to expand her parenting horizons, but by then she was an “old hand”.
Memories
She was always giving hints on living, changing the outcome based on attitude, and showing all of us that age is just a number.
During trying years of four kids, that’s six to feed, I remember her shopping techniques. Double Stamp day! Eggs by the gross from a local producer were cheaper than the store, so we had a lot of eggs! (I love to eat eggs!) Bicquits on sale, 10 cents each, limit 5. Well, that’s 4 kids buying 5 apiece… Hmmm!
By the same token, we had a pear tree. I never grew so tired of pears showing up in the most unusual dishes!
The best food memory? Shrimp. A school bus mechanic from one of her jobs had a shrimp boat and we would buy 100 pounds at a time. The effort to prepare them for the freezer was back-breaking, slimy and smelly, and what on earth do you do with the shells? Bury them under the fig tree? Oh, but the dinners where we had piles of fried shrimp… To this day I would eat fried shrimp daily!
Best food memories from my mom? Eggs. Biscuits. Pears. Shrimp. Still loving 3 out of 4 t'aint bad! Yet, it's been a long time since we had Hungarian Goulash. Share on XI have this “fond” memory. I was polishing my shoes, and probably using up all the shoe polish… “You can make them shine by buffing them with a little Vaseline.”
Here’s the thing. At the time… well, at that particular time I was a teenager. We all know teens “know it all” and don’t listen very well! To this day, every time I polish my shoes (seldom) I remember this comment.
Boogie Woogie on the piano, anyone? Cub Scout Den Mother anyone? Let’s see, there must have been 100 kids at my brother (Vaughn) and I birthday party in Seabrook. College Student? Graduation ceremony for you mom? Long drives when you’re working on getting your permit. I remember freeways, downtown Houston, country roads. Hours, and she never watched my speed limit!
Along the way, there have been challenges. That’s life. But if ever there is a personality to show how to bounce back? Thanks, mom! Keep it up!
Honor
From a posting I made a number of years ago and it’s still true today.
I honor my mom. Barbara Simmons Gurley. From her I got my love for reading, and later in life, I realize I got from her my love of school. Ever pursuing the next smidgen of information, she was always challenging me to read the next book or even the next genre of books. Even today, she’s a techie showing that she’s capable of iPad’ing, Facebook’ing, and Tweet’ing…
Love you mom! Bappy Hirthday!
A happy birthday to you, a happy birthday to you
May you feel Jesus near every day of the year
A happy birthday to you, a happy birthday to you
And the best year you’ve ever had!