by Mary Ethel Gale to her Mother
Mother you have always been the heart of our home. Even today when you leave the house even just for a trip to the store the house no longer feels like home until you return.
So much of who I am today comes from your influence.
You nurtured my love of the Lord and my dedication to His church. I can remember morning Bible readings at the breakfast table and nightly bedtime prayers. There was never any question about regular attendance at services and classes and you set the example of service by teaching VBS-I can remember helping you clip out flannelboard pieces for your class.
You also cultivated my love of music. I learned to sing alto beside you at church and I learned "Oats, Peas, Beans, and Barley Grow," as well as other tunes during bedtime story times. I have precious memories of listening to you sing 'Eyes so bright, like Stars at Night" to various babies as they came into our home. I still use that lulaby to comfort fussy babies that come my way
Then there were the piano lessons beginning at age 5 and continuing on through college. Of course that meant recitals and I can't count the number of formals you sewed for me and the corsages you pinned on me. You always celebrated your pride in my playing with a trip to the Diary Queen for ice cream afterwards.
You encouraged my love of animals and especially cats. You always condoned our rescuing the stray kittens and even Penny, our devoted dog. Remember the waif of a kitten that you brought back to life by putting it in a box on the door of the oven that had been warmed especially for it?
I owe my love of reading and enjoyment of words to you. You read to us nightly for countless years. I read before I went to school because I learned at your side to love words and books. I still read "The Little White Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings" to my students and I think it is my own copy from almost 50 years ago.'
Family meals together were always just that--together. You always had a hot,
nutritious and "colorful" meal for us all each night and packed our lunches for
school the next day as well. (I still don't like egg salad sandwiches!) Then there were
the special treats like cocoa on a chilly night or hot punch with grape juice and apple
juice or butterscotch pudding with dates or chocolate chip cookies, karo pecan pie,
barbeque chicken
I can remember your having the back lot plowed so you could plant a garden and have really fresh vegetables. Didn't you get a bumper crop of zucchini or something?
Then there was your example of the dedication to your spouse that god expects from all of us in our marriages. You were always quietly devoted to Daddy even when it was difficult. You put up with his idiosyncrasies with the patience of Job. You weren't always happy, for instance, to stop for a night at the home of one of his friends with a whole carload of children but you never argued or made a scene. My own commitment to marriage for better or worse couldn't have been a better example to follow.
You've been so faithful to write every Monday morning whether I wrote to you
once a week, once a month, or once a season. I've saved all your letters and have boxes of
them.
I record all our special occasions with photographs thanks to your example. I wouldn't think of leaving my camera behind when something noteworthy is happening.
You've always been willing to listen. I remember knocking on your bedroom door late at night to tell you about my evening or to cry on your shoulder about the growing pains of being a teenager who wanted to have a boyfriend and felt inadequate or unattractive or inferior. You always encouraged me and I felt there was nothing you'd rather do than listen to me. Even now I know I can call you and talk about whatever need I might have.
You are the best gift giver. I still have so many of the things you've given me over the years-- the sewing machine that I think was a graduation present from college, the nightgowns you've made for me, the 50 presents for my 50th birthday, and on and on.
You've also passed on to me the gift of seeing the "silver lining" in any cloud that passes by. You've always been on the lookout for the good that can come from even the worst situations. I'm better at counting my blessings because of you.
You have always made it clear in word and action that there was nothing you'd rather do or be, then or now, than a MOTHER. I am so blessed you are mine.
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Last Updated May 8, 1999 by Jonathan Bales