Introduction

From One of Mom’s Journals

“I’ve been thinking about doing this for a long time, over 2 years in fact, but several things happened just recently that got me moving.  Julie sent me an electronic card about mother and it had a comment that really made me think.  I had also started to fill out a book which I had received from Cheryl about mother-daughter-granddaughter and in filling it out realized how little I really knew.

In working through the questions it asked about my mother I was shocked, saddened and regret that I didn’t take the time growing up to learn more about her early life.  Mother has Parkinson’s disease and is in a nursing home.  With her memory and memories gone forever, I decided it was time, while I can still recall, to put what I can together, even though in many areas it will be very sketchy, possibly just ‘feelings’ about some things rather than ‘true’ memories.

Today is Mother’s Day, May 9, 1999.  I wrote this section after church, at the Ledbetter Methodist Church I attend.  On my way home, I stopped to have lunch.  The restaurant was quite full and all the tables were set for 4 people.  After being seated a large group of young couples came in and needed an extra table.  The waitress asked if I would mind if she moved me over a table or two to accommodate the group, it was fine with me, they apologized at my having to move.

When I was finished and ready to leave, I realized the waitress had not brought my ticket yet.  When I mentioned it to her, she told me the people at other table requested my ticket to be given to them as a Mother’s Day gift!!  I stopped by to thank them, we talked a little.  I told them about my Mom and my children, and how much their gesture meant to me.  With families so far a field now days, many Mom’s aren’t able to be with their children during “special times”.

It’s sad but in the world we live in today it’s not like it was when we were children, each generation has memories, of being at home, or Gamma’s.  They are all precious but most of the time we never let those closest to us, know how much “each one” in that memory has contributed to what that memory means to us.

I want to let each one of my children know how much they, as individuals, contributed to making the “Whole” picture I remember.  Each of you is loved as an individual and I can’t imagine life without any one of you!!

Rick – Steve – Julie – Terry (Stelzer)

Before there was “you my family” I was part of my folks, uncles, aunts, and my sister, and we were “the family”. As we grow older, and develop into “ourselves” we all become part of a new picture. From little children, to teenagers, to young married, to parents, our lives change with each passing year and season.  The person each of us becomes is part of those, who came before us, even though we may never have been privileged to know them personally.”

Bonnie Elizabeth Borchard Skinner