Wondering about my Wanderings

My favorite stories about Mom

There are so many favorite stories that I have about my mom who just recently passed away the first week in October. I am vocation a minister so even to this day I wondered about mom's understanding of God. I have come to this one conclusion. It was all about making people laugh so hard and feel so happy that heaven could never be far away. In the days that I grew up with Mom it was all about Lucy and Ethel of the I love Lucy show. In those days the patron saint of humor in mom's world was Carol Burnett, another comedian she loved to laugh with. That was the secret. Without laughter you were eternally lost. Many churches tout a rubber stamp kind of understanding about God. Mom's main pronouncements were not about believing this, that or the other thing. It was all about believing in Jesus Christ by faith. After that it was about teaching the children how to laugh. Believe or not that has been the road to salvation for us all. When all else fails find something to laugh about. Pray and see what God and God alone can do.

I will note a few stories. All kinds of other stories scream to come out. They are for another time. Often our story celebrations would begin by saying "Oh do you remember when.....(often the tittering would begin) or "Will you ever forget when....." The memories helped bind us together. They were forever a reminder that we were not alone.

1. When I was a teenager and Kurt was with me in the background when Mom decided it was time to let her boys know about the important questions of life. We were all in the kitchen when it started. "Now I know you boys want to know all about the facts of life" I am sure that they are starting to tell you about these things. Ask me anything you want to know about sex and I will let you know..... After that sentence I went into a state of shock. I was speechless. One thing for sure Mom had my attention. All of a sudden I wanted to be anywhere but in the kitchen. I was not sure if the lesson for the day was guess who is coming to dinner? What are we having for dinner tonight. Of course it could not stop there. You fill in the blank about what happened after that. How many kids did she have? Well do you have any questions?

2. Another memory that will stay with me forever and a day was when Kurt and I and the neighbor kids were camping out in the backyard. As an aside. I wonder how many of you remember being sent out by mom to tell everyone it was time for DINNER!! We yelled it as we walked Kurrrt time for dinner, etc. What did the neighborhood kids think, who cared? On this day there were ten or fifteen of us gathered together looking for a good time. The ringleaders took us to a place known as the farm. It was made that much more attractive, because there were stories of this farmer shooting kids with buckshot. On this fateful day we went out to the to the muddy marshes and played king of the hill. And guess what happened every one of those boys was covered with mud from head to toe. One of the kids intoned, "What are we going to do are parents are going to kill me." I had it all under control. "Don't worry guys I can get the faucet on and we will be cleaned up in a jiffy." That was not even close to the biggest problem. After the clean up we found out that we could not get the faucet off!!! I was terrified. I knocked on the door and mom was there. I was bit surprised that she was awake. I thought for sure she was going to kill me. She gave me the wrench to shut of the outdoor faucet, tell the kids to go home and get in the tub. For a time I thought the end of the world had finally come. I was no more than eleven years old, but was wondering if I would see my twelth birthday. After I got cleaned up she acted like nothing even happened. She wanted me to try on some new shorts that she had put together. It was on that fateful day, that I learned for the first time what it meant to know amazing grace. As far as I know dad never found out. I can only guess, but will probably never know that for mom the entertainment was worth the price we paid to get ourselves in and out of the mud.
What do you remember?