TRIBUTE TO MOTHERS

A MOTHER’S HEART
By; Lillian Carol Russell

Watch her there at play,
Holding her doll in a loving way.

God gives every little girl a mother’s heart
While very young she begins to play the part.

She’ll practice on dolly what she learns from you,
You must teach her early what is good and what is true.

Like a vapor her childhood soon will be past,
And the baby in her arms will be real at last.

She’ll learn much of sorrow, happiness and strife,
While nurturing God’s gift of a new little life.

She’ll suffer every pain the child goes though,
And she’ll love them as only a mother can do.

Then all too soon will come the day,
When she opens the door and walks away.

Then once more the cycle will start,
A new baby girl, born with a mother’s heart.

TRIBUTE TO MOTHERS

I remember growing up in the 50's, it was a time before Kleenex so if we had a runny nose, our mothers washed our snotty handkerchiefs, you know that took a lot of love. There were no pampers either, stinky diapers & snotty handkerchiefs, young mothers were very busy. My first baby was before pampers, so I got a little dose of that, but I did have an automatic washing machine. I can remember wash tubs and rub boards when I was a little girl. Then came the electric washing machine with the automatic wringer, and that got my sister and I into so much trouble.

Daddy built a wash house for mama that was so special. It was a ten by ten concrete slab floor. There were four windows to catch the summer breeze and a door. The washing machine was in the middle and it had two rinse tubs.  The automatic wringer swung around to each tub. We loved wash day but it didn't come often enough to suit us. My sister and I sneaked out there one day and poured almost a whole box of Silver Dust Detergent into the machine, added water and turned it on. We'd been in trouble before because we'd played in the wash house and got my sister's hand caught in the wringer more than once. We had never dumped the detergent though, oh my it was heaven, suds rose up and out of the machine, they flowed over the edge, they filled the wash house and were flowing out the windows. They came up past our heads and we were jumping up and down and squealing with delight having more fun than kids should be having, until mama heard us and came to see what the commotion  was all about. We got a well deserved spanking, our guardian angel was really working overtime and it wasn't the first time. We kept our guardian angel pretty busy. Electric wires were hanging down to that machine and that was before the safety trip switch was invented. We could have been killed in our little escapade that day, but mama taught us to stop messing with that machine. 

There was something wonderful about the smell of white, clean sheets hanging on a line in a gentle breeze on a summer day. I remember being chased away from the sheets because I loved to run by them and smell the freshness.

We grew up in an era where our aunts took part in our raising, our grandmothers too. If we misbehaved they corrected us. When we spent time with them in the summer, they were as dear to us as our mothers. I feel like we were so very blessed to have been able to share all our wonderful aunts and learn so much from each of them. As my sister said recently; daddy's sisters were close, they shared a lot of laughter over cups of coffee. They were all hard working and very talented gals. Everyone of them could sew, cook, grow a garden, can their on food, do crafts I don't think there was much they could not do if they put their minds to it.

I was blessed enough to marry a young man who had a mother who was also a blessing to me as were his grandmothers, also Mrs Georga Fulda who was not related but was instrumental in leading me to Christ. I learned so much from them all and so I pay a tribute to all the wonderful women in heaven this Mother's Day, who so blessed my life and were so instrumental in making me who I am today. Without their guidance, who knows where the road of life might have taken me? I really miss all these special ladies and their sweet laughter.

There is one sweet aunt left of all daddy's sisters; Happy Mother's Day Aunt Bell Cutrer and Happy Mother's Day to my sister who was always there for my children.