1942

Well, I am pretty sure that on this day in history, in 1942, the world just got a little bit brighter, the stars were aligned just a little more perfectly … and the the skies were just a bit more blue.  In the middle of nowhere Mississippi, on a farm of sorts, my mother was born.  They didn’t even get her birth certificate right.  My grandparents argued over whether or not to name her Barbara Anne or Barbara Delorice .. and the doctor couldn’t remember which one they decided on and put down the wrong choice.  She didn’t even know this until she was an adult.

I am at a weird place in my life where I am at the age that my mom was when she died.  Yes, my mom died young – she was only 45 years old; or as she liked to say – she was forty and a half.  That is so odd to me to be 45.  I have lived more of my life without her than I lived WITH her.  I never got to live life as an adult with my mom, never lived life married or with kids – with her around.  God was good to me and blessed me with not only one, but TWO, amazing mother in laws (how do you even say that in a grammatically correct manner?).  Nonetheless; I do still wish I had my mom around for all these amazing moments of messy adulthood we call life.

You know how when people die you tend to immortalize them, or only remember the good?  A lot of people do anyway. I think I do that a lot.  Of course I remember some weird and silly things too, like the fact that my own mother mooned me when I was a teenager.  Yes, she really did.  I was being a typical teenager with an attitude and she said to me; and I quote … “If you’re going to show your ass, I’m going to show mine” … and she mooned me right there in the dining room. Things like that stick with a person, lol.

There are some precious and fabulous people in my life that had the pleasure of knowing her, most of them family, but not all.  However; my husband never did, and of course, my children never will.  So I talk about her and tell stories, and write blogs here and there 🙂

Here are some things or facts about my mom, who died while we were on vacation at the beach, when I was 17:

• She smoked cigarettes until I was 12 years old.
• She never drove a car and did not have a driver’s license.
• She hated New Year’s Eve and would not let me leave the house on that night.
• She hated concerts and thought they were dangerous.
• She was a Capricorn.
• She told me I was not allowed to sneeze while I was driving because I would close my eyes if I sneezed.
• Her favorite color was purple.
• She was an amazing artist.
• She was a brilliant seamstress and owned a commercial sewing machine.
• She could cut my hair and my father’s hair.
• She was a great cook but didn’t learn until after she was married to my dad.
• She was a great gardener.
• She was the middle child of five.
• She never graduated high school.
• She was WAY smarter than people gave her credit for.
• She could build almost anything with her hands if she saw an example.
• She was hilarious.
• She babysat children in our house for extra money.
• She broke her collar bone riding my brother’s motorcycle.
• She loved birds.
• She had 8 pregnancies but only 2 children.
• She was independent, definitely not needy.
• She created an environment where our house was the fun house, even though we were not wealthy, and all the kids liked to come to my place and hang out.  She told me not long before she died; that she did this on purpose because it kept me close at home and she knew where I was.  I think it came natural for her.
• She loved Kenny Rogers.
• She took me to see Coal Miner’s Daughter at the movies.
• She had a great smile and a loud laugh.
• She was the type that would do anonymous acts of kindness that nobody would ever know about.
• She did not like graveyards or the cemetery.
• She would not tolerate the use of the word ‘hate’.
• She was not lazy.
• She liked to watch the CBS soap operas but never to the point of neglecting or missing out on other things.
• She loved my father with every fiber of her being and it showed.

Happy Birthday Mom in Heaven … Love you always !

As always, make champion choices,
The Healthy Habit Lady