Random Memories of Mom by Denise Domian (Denise's Domain)

Random Memories of Mom (and some of Dad mixed in because you can’t think of Mom without thinking of Dad):

 

·       Hopping into the car to drop off Dad at work in my bunny suit (footed PJs).

·       Packing our one paper bag of clothes for our trip to Cape Cod.  This is the genius of my Mom knowing that there was no way 6 suitcases would fit in our station wagon.

·       The Butt Tree (ceramic centerpiece of peaches piled in a bowl. Andrew coined it the butt tree, because it looked like, well, a butt tree.)  I can still hear Mom saying, “Oh, Andrew…”

·       The scissors, tape, or Mom’s pen hunting sessions because one of us had moved them from their defined place.

·       Mom buying Tang orange juice because I didn’t like real orange juice.

·       Spying on Mom and Dad’s parties when we were young.  Why is that always so fun for kids?!

·       Staying in a seedy hotel in NY on our way to Cape Cod and thinking that we were either going to die in the creaky elevator or in our room because, well, it seemed seedy even to a kid.

·       Mom and Dad taking us to fancy restaurants and allowing us to order a Shirley Temple.  Seriously when I think about where they took us, I imagine the waiters rolling their eyes.

·       Mom and Dad walking holding hands, every time they walked together over 60 years.

·       The butterscotch cut out cookies we made each year.  I can still taste the dough.

·       Mom not telling me it was my birthday when I was in nursery school because they had plans that night.  The teacher blowing it and singing happy birthday to me at school causing me to ask Mom if it was my birthday when I got home.

·       Mom smoking with Aunt Ethel… what?!

·       Mom cutting the rug at any wedding.

·       Mom and Dad taking square dancing?! Dad wore a bolo tie and a pin which read “Big Daddy.” Mom wore one of those dresses with the flouncy layered skirts.

·       Mom and Dad slow dancing in the kitchen regularly.

·       Mom sitting in her rocking chair with a crossword and a glass of wine.

·       How much Mom and Dad loved the Cape and how much I loved going there. 

·       Going with Mom and Dad to the canal to watch the boats float down the canal.

·       Mom’s uniform of a turtleneck and cardigan.  I could never understand why Mom always wore turtlenecks even in the summer, but as an aging woman, I now know.

·       Mom stating, “Denise, I don’t know where you came from” because she didn’t understand my hair, my fashion, my love of rock climbing, etc.

·       Mom comforting me when I was sobbing uncontrollably because of a broken heart.  This happened more than once.

·       Mom wanted to get on any motorcycle:  Andrew’s, my boyfriend’s, and those at the Harley museum.  She loved making people scoff at the old lady on the motorcycle.  It fit her tough persona. 

·       Mom stroking my forehead when I was sick. 

·       The time when I was sick and I told her I thought I vomited blood and she told me I was being dramatic.  Until I fainted and they had to call the ambulance because I vomited blood.  I thought, “Ha, see, that’ll teach you to call me dramatic.”  I was a snotty teenager.  Mom felt bad. 

·       Mom patting my hand when I’d sit next to her.  Me patting Mom’s hands when I sat next to her in her room at The Glen.

·       The last time Mom rallied and became so lucid and conversational, telling Jane and I she loved us, as if she knew that was her last chance to let us know.  In fact, it was for me.

 

I’ve heard people say that when you lose both parents you feel like an orphan.  I don’t feel like an orphan.  I have so many examples, I know I was loved.  We were incredibly lucky to have them as our parents.