Mom is stronger than I realized!

I’d like to share a couple of my favorite memories of mom. The memories are from our time in Roosevelt in the mid 1980’s. Back then we didn’t have a lot of money and we couldn’t afford to go to movies, go out to eat, or go on vacations (with the exception of the cabin trips and the family trip back east). Our family entertainment therefore consisted mostly of watching inter-sibling combat; including the regular use of tortuous wrestling holds and moves, constant bouts over the use and wearing of certain items of clothing, and of course the epic Anita v. Hyrum episodes. Mom, seeing the need for more wholesome and harmonious entertainment, took it upon herself to get a VCR for the family. There was no way we could afford to buy a VCR but there just happened to be an upcoming raffle/fundraising event that promised a state of the art VCR to the person who sold the most raffle tickets. Mom spent hours and hours of her precious time making sure she sold the most raffle tickets, which she did by a long way. She didn’t want the VCR so she could watch movies, which she rarely did, she wanted it to give us a little piece of luxury and a chance to spend some quality non-violent time together.

The second set of memories I’d like to share revolves around home-made bread. Mom would bake bread most days. I have very fond memories of coming home from elementary school to the smell of whole wheat bread just out of the oven. I remember how she would give me a warm slice of bread with butter and jam and would listen to stories about my day. Mom would also often make ‘flap-jacks’ (fried bread dough) with the left over dough, which I loved, especially once they were coated in powdered sugar. One of my earliest memories of mom is her letting me stir the flour into the bread dough. I remember thinking how hard it was, and that mom was much stronger than I realized. The older I get, the more I realize how strong she really was.

I want to end by saying that mom is the most positive, caring, selfless person I have known. I feel really lucky and privileged to have been raised by her and dad. Mom, thanks for your love, example, and sacrifice. Happy 70^th. Here’s to another 30 years!

                      Love,

                                                  Alvin