My Mom

My mother taught piano lessons in our home and was a stay-at-home mom. She worked hard at keeping our house clean, the yard tended, and made nice meals on a small budget. I grew up in houses that my parents owned first in Libby, Montana and then in Salem, Oregon. They took pride in our home.

When I was five years old, I wrote a song that I wanted my mother to drive me to Spokane to have published. She said that I didn't have any talent in music because I could play by ear. Yes, I can pick out songs on the piano based on songs that I hear on the radio. That stunted my progress in music for years. I still have a block.

When I was in the seventh grade, I was told to take algebra. My mother told me I shouldn't ever take algebra so I didn't. To this day I haven't taken algebra. This is a real trick since I have graduated from a four year college by substituting other classes. I was great in math and it was my best subject. Her logic was that she flunked algebra so this was a danger zone. I know she wanted to protect me and meant well. I am a Sudoku fanatic now!

During my senior year in high school, I started to think that I wanted to go to college. I had good grades. My mother said that I should go to business school and be a legal secretary. I went on to college and graduated from Oregon College of Education, now Western Oregon University with a B.S. in Social Science. My senior year in college, I added a second major so I also have a major in corrections. I wanted to be a high school history teacher. I've wanted to be a lot of things. I have also thought social research was interesting.

I wonder if I would have done what my mother had said, if I would be a lawyer right now. I wonder if my ambition would have kicked in and I would have wanted to try law school too. I have thought about law school for years. Now college is so expensive and for people my age, it's even harder since it's now possible to garnish your social security payments, if you don't pay your tuition payments. If you get sick, it could be disaster!

I'm 59 now. Next year I'll be 60. The big 6-0! That's getting into the area where you can't say you are really young any more, maybe young at heart. This is the area where you are supposed to be financially secure, thinking about traveling, grandchildren, and hobbies.

What does life hold for me? I look forward to it. Will I be a best selling mystery novelist? Will I write award winning children's books? Will I write inspirational biographies? Will I find the opportunity to go back to college to get my masters and Ph.D., teach, and do social research? Will I have more opportunities to travel? I want to go to Sweden since I'm half Swedish.

Or will I continue working my part time job, have a bigger and bigger garden every year, sew beautiful quilts, knit Scandinavian ski sweaters, and continue to work on my novel? The later is more realistic and something I know I can accomplish. I know that I do love working at Joann Fabrics. It's fun. It's hard not to want to spend my whole paycheck there. So many great sales. So much fun.

No matter how my life turns out, I'm determined to work hard to learn new things, enjoy life, and do the best I can. My mother did the best she could. She taught me how to enjoy the little things in life and to find joy everyday. That was a great gift. I miss her. She knew how to take an ordinary day and make it special.