Memories of my mother ... (part six) ...

Two months and three days since I published part five. Kind of hard to believe it's been that long since I have added to this series.


What prompted this post are three accidents (including one very near-miss, in Steven's case) that occurred just within the past few days to people in my immediate or blogger family. I hope that the 'cycle of 3' has now been completed.


I was reminded of a time when, upon returning from a trip to San Antonio and then down to Brownsville -- where my folks enjoyed visiting and playing bridge with friends (then retired) from many years back -- and back to Houston, my mother announced, "I was almost killed!"

That got our attention! We asked, "What happened?!?"

Well, it turns out that Mom had gone into a drugstore in San Antonio and heard about the shop being robbed two weeks prior. In that incident, someone had gotten killed.

It was her version of being 'almost killed'.


Mom had an imagination that would not quit and was prone to exaggeration at times, obviously. BUT, if you ever wanted someone to plan a children's party, you had to look no further!



My mother was a very proud person.


She had always dreamed of being a teacher, but it wasn't until after Peggy and I had both graduated from college and moved on in our lives and Johnny was in high school that Mom obtained her GED (she'd had to drop out when she was in high school to work and help support her family).

She then enrolled as an undergraduate student at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan, some 42 miles west of Munising. She commuted back and forth daily her first couple of years, taking the maximum number of courses allowed each term and even added summer schools so that she could finish in the minimum amount of time possible.

[I had been a student at NMU, as well, and it was a lot of fun for me to discover that she and I both were (or in my case, had been) students of Dr. Hilton -- English. An aside here ... I wrote to Dr. Hilton a couple of years ago, asking if he remembered us. He wrote a very nice note back. I don't think he did remember us, actually, but the note was nice!]


Upon graduation and certification, Mother obtained a position as an English teacher at Mather High School in Munising and was in 'seventh heaven'.

Dad and she, for probably the first time in their lives, had 'extra' $$, and were very much enjoying themselves. He really didn't like to travel, but Mom did, and she and Gladys (a friend of many many years) planned a lot of trips together.


A sad note. I HATE sad notes, and have thought long and hard about including this one here, but have decided to do so.

One or more students, who decided that they didn't like the way my mother was teaching -- or perhaps the discipline she was enforcing in the classroom --, thought that it would be fun to "egg" her house. Hubby and I were both there to help her try and remove the awful stuff.

To this very day I think, "How cruel!"


Life is not always happy events and memories. You have no idea how much I wish that this had not happened to my mother, who worked so hard to achieve her lifelong dreams!