the day for mothers

wishing all you mothers a very special day. may it be filled with loads of laughter, tons of hugs and kisses, and all your favorite things.

in memory of patsy :: this moment....studious

{this moment}

remembering patsy

in memory of patsy :: Relief Society President

for years, 9 in fact, my mother was the Silsbee Ward Relief Society president. she not only loved that calling, it loved her. thinking back, i realize how she bloomed when called to service. service had been in her soul. tirelessly she served the sisters. i saw her worry, weep, love, celebrate, mourn, and care for the sisters.

as a 12 year old beehive, i had Elaine Boddie as an advisor. her mother had left this earth. when she spoke of Genvieve Cryer and her service, i noticed something. her eyes sparkled and her chin raised a bit higher...she was proud of her mother. i realized i was proud of my mother as well. the fact that she lived the principle of "Charity Never Faileth" was brought to my consciousness. countless cakes were baked, gallons of soup simmered, many many home visits, homemaking days planned, lessons given, and prayer. and always she felt a person had to and she did always do what was right. she was unfailing in that principle.

i am thankful for numerous examples of how to be a woman, wife, and mother. no one is greater than the legacy she left of those 9 years of service.

in memory of patsy::the clothesline

i have a clothesline in my back yard. every single time i hang some wash out on the clothesline, i think of my mother and her mother before her. as a child, many times i had to rehang the clothes i had just hung...not too terribly neatly. my mother would always remind me that as a teenager she had to do the same thing. my grandmother was quite particular about her housework, especially laundry. the shirts must face the same direction and be hung together. the pants in a certain fashion, also together. the sheets, and so on. there hasn't been a time when i do my own wash that i do not think of those women. the pride they took in taking care of a family and home. i feel close to them at that clothesline made from the poles of my mother's line. her example in my thoughts and becoming part of me. understanding that this service was the purest form of love. the kind of love that our Savior taught. that gratitude for her...for that love has no end.

in memory of Patsy :: lover of cookbooks

a portion of our collection

one thing my mother passed on to me was the love of a cookbook. every holiday, we gifted each other a nifty new cookbook. her obsession with recipes began in her teens. when in high school she would spends hours pouring through magazines and cookbooks in the library.

she marked each recipe once tested with good, ok, or even Jay loved it!

she filled countless spirals with recipes to try. and try she did. my father has said that he never knew what he would come home to for dinner. mother was fearless, much like Julia Child. she tried with confidence and smile on her face. that was her heaven on earth....her kitchen and her recipes. that is now where i find a great deal of my own solace. cooking and feeding our family is the most personal and loving gift we can give. we show love, compassion, gratitude with each spoonful. my heart is filled with gratitude for having shared this family tradition with my sweet Patsy.

In Memoriam

on this day 63 years ago my beautiful mother was born in rural mississippi. she was the a bright light in the family from the start. just her entering a room made everyone smile. she always had this thick gorgeous hair and a electric smile. she had many talents like cooking, sewing, intellectual pursuits, but one of her greatest gifts was the gift of conversation. her uncle, tate, would say she was vaccinated by the Victrola needle. he and everyone else in mississippi loved her conversations. when we would visit they would say "Patsy come here and let me hear you talk!". she just ate that up. i did too. i loved to hear my mother tell me of the times passed. everyday of her life she would share an old tale with me. i feel as if i went to brookhaven high school and travel up those stairs. that i too hung clothes on the line for my grandmother. that i was next to her as she worked the switchboard as an operator. what a gift she had. what a gift she was.

Charity Never Faileth was her motto and she lived by it. she baked countless cakes for birthdays, deaths, births, and just because she thought of you. how many chickens she fried. how many telephone conversations to let another know that she cared. what an example of Christ's love she was to me.

to honor that auburn haired, gentile, southern lady, i am going to do a series of "in memory of patsy" this month. may i do her justice.

i love and miss you dear mother.