MORE ABOUT MY MOTHER!

Yesterday, I talked about my mother's early childhood. Today, I will try to tell you more about her in general. They did move back to the town they came from. She worked in a factory when she was old enough to get work. She had limited education, but she was quite smart. She could write well and knew her math quite well.

She met and married my father and I can still hear her say--"I could have looked the whole world over and never found a better man than my John". If she said it once she kept saying it over and over. They were quite the team!!!

Her health was quite good, but she had a couple "thorns in the flesh" that often would cause her problems. When she had gotten married her feet were normal as any one's. After awhile, she got arthritis in her feet and her toes lapped over the other toes and some stood straight up. She had to have made to order shoes. It is a wonder she was able to do all the work that she was willing to do without complaining. She did complain about her feet quite often, as you might suspect. She thought her feet was due to walking to her work and they had gotten frozen, but I still think it was rheumatoid arthritis. Later in her life she had arthritis in her hands as well.

Another thing that bothered her a lot, her whole body would cramp up like one gets in the calf or a foot. I have gotten these in my calf of my leg and foot, but I can't imagine the pain that she endured while she had her whole body cramp up. I think it was due to so much work and being on her feet all day long. When we would go with my dad someplace and we would come home and smell the liniment, I knew she had one of her cramping spells. It always frightened me, as she was in so much pain. The doctor told her she was on her feet too much, but she was a hard worker and kept on going.

She was very Victorian in her thoughts (as you might guess knowing when she was born) and her early childhood, she was a no nonsense kind of a person. Tact was not one of her strong points and truthfulness was a MUST, regardless. When she was born, they wore long dresses and no skin was ever showing, and the the flapper age came in and bathing suits/shorts were worn, and she thought this was very bad and didn't mind telling people this. When you go to the beach today, one can get appalled at the T bathing suits that girls are wearing and wonder what these girls are thinking.

My grandmother lived at our house during the summer months, and was very frail. This added more work on top of a heavy load. Her mother passed away in 1933 and I do not remember much about her, other than she was a tiny, tiny person.

My mother had a strong faith in God and this kept her spirits up. She would be the first to tell you that her faith in God did not depend on her, but solely on God's grace and God's grace alone that she would get to heaven. The "Old Rugged Cross" was very meaningful to her.

Today's wisdom--My mother gave me life and pointed to the one that gave me Eternal Life. I am so grateful for my mother.