The Old Days

I saw this picture as I was trying to organize my albums online; and it got me reminiscing about mom, when I was growing up. She was around 46 here. She had already retired from teaching. She was quite a seamstress and tried to teach me to sew, but I was always a little intimidated by how good she was. She took Cindy and me that summer to Singer to take professional lessons. Cindy, of course excelled in the craft. Me - not so much. She also practiced the piano and organ every day because she played for the church. Our house was always filled with music...if not her playing, or me practicing vocal lessons and piano lessons(which she also tried to teach me, but finally sent me to teacher in which I didn't exactly excel in, either) we had the hi-fi playing LPs all day. I remember Alpert and the Tiajuana Brass, the Mills Brothers(no relation), Movie Soundtracks, all kinds of Christmas albums, Classical, Instrumental, Pop Orchestra, Symphonies, etc. She was always working on a new craft, making flowers, macrame pot hangers, ceramics, etc.. Mother was very social - a member of a Methodist Ladies Bible Study, a Baptist Ladies Bible Study, a Ladies Birthday Club, a Couples Bridge Club, but she was always there to take me and my friends to the movies, swimming, to the mall, or to wrap boys houses and then back the next day to clean it up. She always let me have my girlfriends over night anytime I wanted and got to have several slumber parties, til we started trying to sneak out to jump on the trampoline, throw water balloons, or wrap houses in the middle of the night. Mom gave such wise advise about friendships and boys, but of course, I didn't always think it was wise at the time. She never gossiped or said anything bad about anyone, and always told me "If you can't say anything nice about a person, don't say anything at all".
Well, this trip down memory lane has been so fun, but I better come back to the present now and reality. Til next post.