MAY • 2008 • NEWSLETTER

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Dear $$firstname$$,

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It’s said that necessity is the mother of invention, and mothers are surely the best inventors when it comes to dealing with moments of a child’s necessity.

To recognize the kindness, creativity and devotion of all moms out there, we’ve chosen to focus this month’s newsletter on stories that pay tribute to the special things mothers do.

Have a mom or maybe a friend who may enjoy such a trip down Memory Lane? Feel free to forward this newsletter to them. If this newsletter was forwarded to you and you’d like a monthly copy of your own, just use this link to sign up yourself. And make sure to wish your mom the best Mother’s Day ever!

—The Folks at Reminisce

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In this issue:

• The Sweet Scent of Memory
• A Long Visit with Aunt Lena
• Sentiments Especially for Mom
• A Family Says It with Flowers
• Poem: Stop the Time!
• Over the Back Fence
• Time Capsule Trivia
• A Thought to Remember

The Sweet Scent of Memory

By Blu Berman
Bloomfield, Connecticut

Mother’s Day! All those ads nowadays touting expensive items to show your love! Or how about a dozen long-stem roses for Mom? Today, even the cards are expensive!

Ah, I remember a sweeter and simpler time. Wondering what to give my mom on Mother’s Day was something that I began to worry about weeks ahead of time.

What would I buy? Would I have saved enough? Every day before I left for school, I would check the contents of my Louis Sherry box where I kept my allowance. Like a miser, I would let the nickels, dimes and the occasional quarters run through my hands.

Every day, walking to and from school, I passed the F.W. Woolworth store, my complete world of mercantile containment. Walking the aisles and aisles of merchandise made me giddy with delight.

I headed straight for my favorite counter, a place any female could find her heart’s desire. I admired a collection of small, cobalt-blue bottles, the romantic name “Evening in Paris” emblazoned dramatically in little gold letters.

Under the watchful eye of Miss Babbitt, manager of the Women’s Merchandise department, I carefully screwed off the little gold top and took a deep, dizzying breath. Instantly, I was transported to a more exotic and colorful world. The Champs-Elysees, the Tuileries Gardens!

Did I really know about these places apart from what I had learned in my elementary French class? Maybe not, yet I knew, somewhere deep in my 8-year-old soul, that I held glamour in my hands.

Miss Babbitt snatched the beautiful blue bottle away. “Are you going to purchase this perfume, little girl?” I clutched my collection of change tightly.

“I’m deciding,” I informed her in my most grown-up voice. Half-afraid and half-resentful, I continued to search. At last, I spotted it! A beautiful, pure white handkerchief, with elegant letters embroidered in pure gold spelling out, “Mother.” I knew, in my young heart, that I had found the perfect gift.

“I’ll take the hankie,” I informed the imperious Miss Babbitt and quickly handed over my money.

I rushed home to apartment 4-A, clutching my precious purchase. I hid my newly bought treasure in the back of the lowest drawer of the mahogany dresser, the one I shared with my roommate, Aunt Ruth.

Just a week to go and it would be Mother’s Day! As always, Aunt Ruth was there to help. She provided gift paper, only used once, and added a ribbon.

My mother made a fuss when I presented the cheap handkerchief to her. However, it wasn’t until years later that I discovered the best proof of her pleasure.

One rainy day, when my young son and I were visiting with her, my mother called me over to the old mahogany dresser. From the lowest drawer, she carefully lifted out a small wicker basket lined with satin.

There, carefully folded, were four “Mother” handkerchiefs, which she had saved over all the years. She didn’t say anything. We just looked at each other and smiled.

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A Long Visit with Aunt Lena

By Lorraine Olsen-Halli
Lakeville, Minnesota

There was a knock at the door. At first, it was a quiet knock that we scarcely could hear. Then the knock became louder. Mama went to the door.

I was quite young at the time, but I recall it as clear as yesterday. Mama opened the door on that bright summer morning and a little old lady stood there with a half-smile on her face. She wore an ill-fitting coat over a wrinkled black dress that matched the wrinkles on her face. There were scuffs on her shoes, and the heels looked rundown and worn.

She wasn’t a very pretty lady. She had a large wart on her chin and old-fashioned glasses, and wore a strange-looking, crumpled black hat.

I heard Mama say, “Lena! Lena, come in! Auntie Lena, of all people…”

Curious, we children came in from the kitchen where we had been peeking from behind the door. We had often heard of Auntie Lena through the years but had never seen her until now.

Aunt Lena looked to us to be about 110 years old. Mama told us later that she was only 70.

“I was in the neighborhood, so I thought I’d drop in,” she nervously explained as she put down her bulging, shabby black bag (a cross between a suitcase and an oversized purse). One strap was fastened with a big safety pin. Mama welcomed her with the same warmth as anyone who came to our door.

Mama got Aunt Lena a cup of coffee, and they sat and talked for a while. This stranger with the kind, sad look on her face intrigued us.

Coffee time turned into lunchtime. After a long visit, Mama asked her to stay for supper. “Of course. I have time,” Aunt Lena said.

When darkness came and Auntie Lena had not shown any intention of leaving, Mama would think of nothing else but to ask her to stay overnight. It also meant we would be juggling all of our sleeping arrangements a bit, but it was nothing impossible.

The next morning, without being asked, our new guest smilingly helped with breakfast, washed the dishes and made her bed. She seemed very content and didn’t once mention her departure.

This visiting relative quickly became a part of us. Mama gradually and lovingly eased her into our household, and Auntie Lena seemed happier and happier.

She helped mend and clean and cook for us six children and Mama and Papa. She read to us endlessly and sang to us off-key. She knew so many stories and songs. She always had time for us, no matter what we asked.

Auntie Lena came to live with us for 2 years! Then, one rainy day, with no warning, she simply thanked us with tears in her eyes, saying, “It’s time I move on.”  She said something about having other visiting to do.

Reluctantly, we let her go. It was difficult. We had become very used to this funny, strange, kind woman. We truly came to love her. She left an indelible imprint on our memories and our hearts.

And none of us ever saw or heard from her again.

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Sentiments Especially for Mom

Check out these nostalgic Mother’s Day cards shared by Kay Huffman of Williamsport, Pennsylvania:

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A Family Says It with Flowers

By Robert L. Wood
St. Germain, Wisconsin

During the first year on our farm, near Lyons, Wisconsin, we were like many farm families—long on kids and short on money. We soon learned that if we wanted something for a special occasion, it was much easier to obtain it if it came right off the farm.

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A store-bought floral bouquet for Mother’s Day was out of the question. However, Mother Nature came to the rescue for my children to give their mother a loving gift.

A creek ran through the back of the farm. Cowslips—also known as marsh marigolds—are wildflowers that grow in the upper Midwest, always live around streams and bloom in early May.

To celebrate Mother’s Day, my children, John and Jean, ages 3 and 2 at the time, went to the back of the farm, gathered some cowslips and brought them home. The highlight of the day was when those two little ones came running across the kitchen floor, each holding a bouquet of yellow flowers and saying, “I love you, Mommy!”

Although we didn’t know it at the time, this was the beginning of a family tradition. Finding, gathering and presenting the cowslips became a unique and rewarding experience.

The older children soon passed this task on to the younger children. Each one accepted this responsibility with great dedication and performed admirably. Each year, the cowslips were graciously received.

After the children grew up, they moved to other parts of the country. Some Mother’s Days were on the West Coast, others in Arkansas. Neither of these states is known for cowslips. However, our faithful children persevered with ingenuity and resourcefulness. Those years, my wife received some pretty, yellow, look-alike wildflowers.

Perhaps this saga could best be compared to a Broadway production. At the conclusion of the play, all of the actors come back on stage for their curtain call. And this curtain call has been going strong for over 50 years.

It always brings back memories of that first “opening day,” when John and Jean were the stars. It stirs fond remembrances of the supporting cast, Louise, Bill, Rob and Dick, and how they got their chance.

It also asks the question, “How much magic is involved to keep these flowers showing up each year, even after all the children have left home?”

And what mother isn’t touched when her children bring her flowers? No matter how often, no matter what kind.

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Stop the Time!

By Diane M. Popek Jones
Hurt, Virginia

Stop, you cruel, heartless viper!
Stop! You travel much too fast.
I’m not ready to be eighty,
What happened to the years that passed?

Yesterday, when I was twenty,
I trusted you. Time was my friend.
But you tricked me, traveling fast-forward
Stop! This insane race must end.

Don’t turn my hair white! Can’t you see?
Mentally, I’m twenty-three!
There’s no way I could tomorrow,
All of a sudden, eighty be!

Over the Back Fence

I have twin 5-year-old daughters named Grace and Audrey.

One Sunday, when Grace got out of the car to head into church, she asked me, “Why don’t they ever sing “Amazing Audrey’?”

She always noticed when Amazing Grace was sung during church services and thought that we were singing about her.

—Marcy Sledge
Bowling Green, Kentucky

Time Capsule Trivia

From the decades spanning the 1920s to the 1960s, try to guess what year these historic events took place. The answer is given below, but no peeking!

1. President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffers a heart attack in September while golfing in Colorado, remaining in an Army medical center several weeks to recuperate.
2. The Ford Thunderbird is in its first model year as a competitor of the Chevrolet Corvette.
3. Having just completed his role in the movie Giant, rising screen idol James Dean dies, at age 24, when his Porsche Spyder collides with another car on a California highway.
4. Movie premieres include Mister Roberts with Henry Fonda, James Cagney and Jack Lemmon, Guys and Dolls with Marlon Brando singing, Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder and the musical Oklahoma!
5. Hit singles on the music scene include Mitch Miller’s The Yellow Rose of Texas, Tennessee Ernie Ford’s Sixteen Tons, Fats Domino’s Ain’t That a Shame and Chuck Berry’s Maybellene.

For the answer to Time Capsule Trivia, click here.

A Thought to Remember

A man does not live by bread alone…he needs to be buttered up once in a while.