Tributes

 

A Tribute to My Mother

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Today is my mother's birthday. If she was here, she would be blowing out 90 candles. She did make it to 86.

This morning on my walk, when I was wondering about what to write today, I mentally wrote a blog about my mother. I wish those ideas would come back now.

My mother enjoyed going for walks too, as did her father. She was a teacher. Before she was married, she taught in a one-room school. Later, when her three children were all in school, she returned to teaching.

My mother was 26 when I was born. I was the first grandchild on both sides of the family and I held that position for 4 years until my sister came along.

My mother was 69 when my father died. I grew up watching them hug and kiss and cuddle. I had no concept that not all marriages were as happy as theirs. I know she struggled with loneliness after Dad was gone.

I know that there were times when I disappointed my parents but they were always there, loving me and accepting my errors in judgement and giving me another chance.

I was able to stay in our family home and visit Mother every day, during the last weeks of her life. (I went home to spend 2 weeks with her and stayed almost 3 months. I am blessed with an understanding husband.) I know that my being with her was a comfort to her and I am thankful I could do it.

Why did I choose mayflowers as the picture to accompany this blog? Mayflowers are the provincial flower for Nova Scotia. Every spring, part of our family ritual was to go looking for mayflowers. I will always remember the time my parents loving packed some mayflowers in moss and sent them to me through the mail. What a wonderful surprise I had that day! The scent was even better than I remembered. It had been years since I was home during mayflower season. I was glad that I went to the post office that day.

I love you Mom. I miss you.

My Dad

Tuesday, June 08, 2021

Today would be my father's 100th birthday if he was still with us. Unfortunately, he died in 1988 at the age off 67. June 8 is also my maternal grandfather's birthday (1892). And, one of my uncles got married on June 8. You can see why June 8 is significant in my family.

My mother and father were raised in a small farming, coal-mining community in Nova Scotia. Mom was was almost 2 years older than Dad. I 'think' they met when she was teaching in a one-room school and boarding at the house where he was a farm helper. They were married in August 1944. He was a radio operator in Happy Valley - Goose Bay. He liked taking pictures and he took a lot when he was up there. I know that Mom and I stayed with her parents for part of the time when he was away. After the war, we lived in Lakeburn, New Brunswick. (It is part of Moncton now.) I'm not sure how old I was when we moved to Kingston, Nova Scotia because he was working at the air force base in Greenwood. He built us a house there. A few years ago, my sister and I went back and drove through the community where we lived until I was 12. We found the house but so much had changed. Afterall, it was over 50 years since we lived there.

Apparently, my dad always wanted to farm and in 1957, we moved back to River Hebert. We lived with Grandpa and Grandma at first while Dad worked to make our house liveable. We lived further up the same road as G and G. I was happy living on a farm but Dad must have been under a lot of stress. He was in his 30s by then. When we look at pictures during those years, he had lost a lot of weight.

I would say he was a successful farmer and he was well liked. When he died, he wasn't just lost to us, he was active in the community and missed by them too.

Me and my daddy on my third birthday