So you all probably know by now that today is the third anniversary of the day my mom got to leave this world and see the one Person that Christians everywhere dream about seeing. While I figure there’s really no reason to be sad today I’d still like to commemorate this day by remembering some of the wacky things about my mom. Enjoy.
1. Mom is up to her elbows in raw meat- the makings for a whole heap of meatballs. Dad decides to surprise her and walks in the door with a single rose and a sweet note for her. I suppose I should mention now that she was also coloring hair ( multi-tasking, you know) and so she was wearing an ugly, junky shirt with smelly goop in her hair while up to her elbows in raw meat. The lovebirds look at each other, laugh hysterically and kiss. Now that’s true romance.
2. Gaby, Mom and I are at Barnes and Noble enjoying coffee at their cafe. We decide it’s time to leave and get our jackets, ponchos, etc on. One problem: Mom somehow has trouble finding the head hole in her poncho and is flailing her arms in the air about half enveloped by black poncho yelling, “Help!” Gaby and I did the only reasonable thing for two teenage girls to do in that situation- we pretended we didn’t know that crazy woman and walked away mustering what dignity we could.
3. It’s a cold November morning and we are all cozy in our warm beds. That is, until Mom flings open our doors singing at the top of her lungs and announcing that it’s time to go for a picnic. We look at her like she’s lost her mind, but by then we are awake anyway so up we get and out we go for the best, and coldest, breakfast picnic I ever had.
4. My wedding was only weeks away and Mom and I were up late making an insane amount of mini muffins to freeze for the reception. At about four in the morning we decided that it was the perfect time to go have breakfast at Perkins. So after the last batch of mini muffins was out of the oven, we hopped into the car and went off for an extremely early breakfast. As we sat in the booth at Perkins I looked at Mom and I realized that we were making a special memory that I would cherish for years to come. And I was right.
3 comments:
thank you so much for sharing these, Adiel.
Seems like I should say more--my memories of your mom are more vague--but I remember her *always* welcoming me into your home.
Your memories reminded me of some of my favorites. I hope that you won't mind me sharing mine.
1) I lived with the Ben-Ezras for a little over two years. Shortly after I moved in and before Gaby returned from a visit to Peoria, there was an evening when Mrs. Ben-Ezra decided that she was hungry for pizza. By evening, I actually mean sometime around 1 AM, although I'm a little hazy on this detail since I was only semi-concious when she knocked on my bedroom door, jolted me from my sleep, and invited me to join her. Getting the pizza required a trip to Giant Eagle. Mrs. Ben-Ezra, cloaked in her famed black poncho and desparately in need of a brush to subdue her wildly uncombed hair, was convorting up and down the aisles, doing her best to make sure that anybody else in the store would suspect that we were escapees from an insane asylum. After purchasing the pizza and waiting for Mrs. Ben-Ezra to finish her nearly twenty-minute scolding of the cashier for why he shouldn't have been up so late, we made it back to the house, where we ate pizza and stayed up talking about our pasts until about 4 AM. This might not be the same as Perkins or a November morning picnic, but I still appreciated my initiation into the insanity of living with the Ben-Ezras, Mrs. Ben-Ezra especially.
2) As many people know, kitchen-dancing was a frequent event at the Ben-Ezras. I remember one night when the kitchen wasn't big enough to contain what ended up being at least an hour or two of dancing to oldies music on Froggy, a local radio station. The dining room table was pushed back against the wall, and while Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World" was playing, I remember Gabrielle and Jade waltzing a full circle from the kitchen, through the living room and dining room, and back to the kitchen. At different points, I recall dancing with Mrs. Ben-Ezra, Gabrielle, and then Jade and Gabrielle together. This is the only time in my life that I remember me dancing, and I know that I didn't make it easy for either Mrs. Ben-Ezra or Gaby to get me to embarrass myself in this manner. Given my propensity for shyness, I don't expect that there will be too many more times when I will dance, at least not on this side of eternity. I'm glad that Mrs. Ben-Ezra was there for one of them.
3) Lastly, my favorite memory of Mrs. Ben-Ezra was made on a non-descript Saturday morning (on the day she left for Heaven, I think). I wasn't scheduled for work until later, so I hadn't showered and I was fairly grungy. While I was sitting in the dining room eating brunch, Mrs. Ben-Ezra walked over and kissed me on top of my head. (I grew up without receiving affection very often, and Mrs. Ben-Ezra had made it her mission to make up for this.) After she kissed me, I began apologizing to her for being so grossly unclean. Her response was to tell me that she kissed me on purpose because she wanted me to know that I was loved even when I was gross. At the time, this didn't mean a lot to me, but after much reflection, I've determined that this was one of the most profound moments in my life. In addition to having my self-esteem raised a notch, I was shown what the Gospel is all about in a way that sunk home deeper than mere words have ever done for me.
Adiel, the memories that I just shared are only a few from the many that I cherish. I cannot imagine how hard it would be to be in your position given that you had so many more years to make memories with your mother. I am looking forward to the day when I get to see the two of you together again when we are all with our beloved Jesus.
Jeremy,
Thanks for sharing your memories. I always appreciate hearing other people’s impressions of Mom. I have to say, I think she got even more bizarre after I moved out!
Post a Comment