Today Is My Mother's Birthday

Mom & Daddy

Today would have been my mother's birthday. Last year I wrote this post as a tribute to her, On My Mother's Birthday - Remembering Her. So much has happened in this last year, that I wish I could talk to her. She always would think and study your problem and come up with the solution. For her whole married life, she kept those green bookkeeping pages of her and my father's budget. She went over every single penny that was spent. They stuck to a strict budget and sometimes it seemed they did not have a lot when we were growing up, but actually we did. I think I was comparing our life with my friends. We always had a good, comfortable house with my brother and I each having our own rooms. Not all my friends had that.

The docks at Lake Stella, Crescent City, FL 

Our family did things together, like swimming, boating and fishing..........oh yeah, did we ever do that! You wouldn't catch my mother laying in the sun on the beach or the dock like the other mothers. She was always out in the deep water swimming back and forth between the docks at Lake Stella in Crescent City, FL where we lived at the time. I'd often see her out in the water teaching some child how to swim. In fact, many years later, she taught my own son how to swim in the cold waters of NY state at Cole Park. Another post I did about her was a Mother's Day Tribute To A Wonderful Mother.

Mom & her catch

Same with fishing. My father loved to fish! He found the perfect fishing partner with her. She was very competitive and would try her hardest to get more fish than the rest of us. Just because we were kids, didn't mean she give up that number one spot! She instead, taught me to strive to be the best at whatever I did. An example is that my brother and I used to shoot baskets in our hoop and try to get the most. Pretty soon our mother was joining us, and beating the tar out of us! Then I discovered that when we weren't home, she practiced a lot so she could beat us. She told me this in her later years. She said she liked to shoot the baskets because it helped her keep her weight down and her body toned.

Mom, Mickey, Me & Cousin Debbie

When I was pretty young and we lived along a creek in Harpursville, NY, her and I would go mushroom picking. It was fun. At that time, I was not that crazy about mushrooms. But I loved doing something like that with my mother, so I pretended that I did. She knew all about the different kinds since she grew up with a mother who was very self-sufficient, and knew how to find food in the wild.

Me & Mom

Her and I shared many wonderful times. We did so many things together that I will never forget. I remember the day she took me to see the movie, Gone With The Wind, for the first time. She said her mother took her to see it, and it was the only time my grandmother took her to a movie alone. Not with her sisters and brothers. A stolen shared time, with her mother, that she never forgot. She wanted to do the same with her daughter, me.  When it came to the theaters near us at Belair Plaza in Daytona Beach, FL, we had a special day. Locked in my memory forever!

Mickey & Mom

My brother, Mickey and I were very fortunate to have two wonderful parents who loved each other and us. They showed their love to us in many ways. We were never rich, never lived in fancy houses, drove luxury cars or went on luxurious vacations.........we had more than that. Much more! Thank you Mom & Daddy!

Happy Birthday, Mom! We love you forever!!!!

Copyright © 2012 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2012  Kathleen G. Lupole