Mom

Here is my personality color, which happens to be my favorite.

GREEN

You are a very calm and contemplative person. Others are drawn to your peaceful, nurturing nature.

Find out your color at QuizMeme.com!

This is my mom in her early days of motherhood. She is holding me and standing in front of her favorite car of all time, the Oldsmobile Toronado, and my dad's Southern Cast Stone work truck. Here are some random things about Mom, many of them from when I was growing up:
-- She was always doing things for our elderly neighbors, like checking on them, baking them bread, running errands, etc.
-- She and Dad both were active in working with children at church.
-- She liked to bake, and often made whole wheat bread and cookies.
-- She went back to teaching when I was in fourth grade. I can't imagine how she did that AND took care of us at home. My job was to clean out the classroom fish tank every week (or the gerbil cages). We also got to run to the teachers' lounge after school for some Welch's Grape or Strawberry soda sometimes. This was when it was still in glass bottles that we took back.
-- She was one of those mean mothers who bought Roman Meal whole wheat bread instead of white bread and made us eat Cheerios and oatmeal instead of the Apple Jacks we wanted (although she did buy them occasionally). To this day I prefer "grainy" bread and I absolutely LOVE oatmeal.
-- She could hold throw-up in her hand in the car and not spill any (and could keep from throwing up herself).
-- I remember the food storage box that Dad made for trips. She made a lot of sandwiches on car trips and camping trips.
-- She liked to swim and taught us some of the different strokes.
-- She makes that funny noise when she rinses her mouth out after brushing her teeth, and sneezes really loudly. She also taught me how to gargle warm salt water when I had a sore throat.
-- She seemed very patient. I don't remember feeling like Katie and I were a lot of trouble back then, which I now know we were!
-- She could do neat stuff like turn cartwheels, play jacks, and jump rope, and she taught us how!
-- I loved it when she would sing "Winken, Blinken, and Nod" for me when I went to bed. She had and still has a beautiful voice.
-- I learned to not make her mad before she drove me to piano lessons, because the ride would be a little scary!
-- A watch can be effectively hidden under a tissue on the bathroom counter.
-- She and Dad bought some pretty gladiola arrangements for my wedding, in addition to all the other plants and flowers, even though Dad had lost his job at the time.
-- She was present when Emily was born, and she got to cut the cord (John declined). I don't know what I would've done if she hadn't stayed with me that first week.

I love you, Mom. Thanks for being the person you are. I hate that I didn't do a very good job on this post. You have done so much, it's hard to list it all. You make a wonderful grandma, too!