Today is my Mother's Birthday!

My mother turned 81 years old today, on August 12th. She's had a long life and has spent the last 53 years living in the same house. The 130 acre dairy farm where I was raised was built in 1869 and is over 100 years old! My parents bought it for $11,000.00 back in 1957. After my father died Mom insisted on keeping the old homestead, where most of her 7 children were born and raised. Most of them still gather there for Sunday dinner and often pop in to check on her during the weekdays. What would we do without the place we've called home for practically all of our lives? This is where our roots are!

When I was 16 my father sold the cows and the machinery. My sister was in a car accident and broke her neck. This happened at the same time that the farmers had to install a pipe line in their barns rather than take their milk to the creamery. (the creamery closed) My father wouldn't go into debt to install the pipe line and was under a considerable amount of stress because of my sister's car accident. She spent most of the summer in the hospital and they were there most everyday. Well, once a farmer, always a farmer. Dad went out and got a job milking for a farmer who lived up the road and worked for him nearly 20 years before retiring. He was known as the best dairy herdsman in the county but we all missed life on the farm terribly.

I remember my mom killing a snapping turtle that had come up out of the swamp with a shovel. Dad was either in the fields or the barn milking cows, so she didn't bother to run and get him. She was tough; she had to be to raise 7 kids and help out on the farm.

My parents always had a huge, beautiful vegetable garden. Cars stopped by to compliment her on how nice her garden was. It should have been; we spent a lot of time out there weeding and hoeing. She had not only the typical corn, tomatoes, and spinach, etc., but also strawberry beds and raspberries for jam and pies. This garden was mom's pride and joy.

I remember when she used to come in the house in the winter with bleeding knuckles and cracked, chapped hands. Every morning she washed milking machines for dad. And she helped unload hay wagons, shoveled manure, and fed cows! My mom was no sissy when it came to hard work. She did all of this plus cooked huge meals, did tons of laundry, and cleaned up after her brood of kids! (My sisters and I did do a lot of dishes, though.)

My mother...she took in stray people like some do stray animals. She stopped everything she was doing to feed her old hobo uncle Raymond. She even shooed him in for a bath now and then! He never married or had any children, but we loved him because he would pull in with a load of bicycles. He was a junk collector and didn't leave without giving up a bike or two. All of my friends, and my sister's and brother's friends too loved to come to our house. I always said I had the best childhood of anyone I knew. Mom always baked something yummy for us and it was sitting there waiting when we got off the bus after school. She made the best homemade yeast rolls, according to our friends. If we needed to supply something for a meal, whether it be for 4-H or a church event, her homemade rolls were a special request.

I love my mother. Because I live in Florida, I don't get to visit her like the rest of my siblings do. This is a tribute to my mother...because I love her!!! Happy birthday, mom!