Remembering Mama

My aunt and I spent hours and hours "visiting" this weekend while I was in San Antonio with her. Much of our time was spent laughing and talking about Mama. I've told you before that she was quite a character. This picture of she and I touring one of the bath houses here in Hot Springs is one of my favorites - it was back before I let my hair go white and I know we would have looked exactly alike if I was white headed too. Mama had the biggest heart of anyone I know and couldn't stand for anyone to be hurt. But she also loved to tease and play jokes on people. Her primary target was always Daddy.

This picture of Daddy was taken in my back yard right after he caught this huge catfish - he had the best time that day!

Daddy loved to brag to people that he had two sisters and he was the apple of their eye. Mama would immediately agree with him and add that both his sisters were blind. And they really are blind!

When we were little Mama and Daddy never went to church but sometime in the eighties they had a long talk with a Baptist preacher at my aunt's house in Texas and decided they wanted to be baptized. They were living in a little town called Placedo at the time, near Victoria in south Texas. While this was certainly a serious event Mama was never one to take herself seriously and definitely included Daddy in that. So to forestall either of them becoming too proud the towel she included in Daddy's bag for him to dry with after the baptism had the large letters HOLIDAY INN on it. Notice that was Daddy's towel - not hers!

One time when Daddy was just a little too full of himself Mama decided to play a trick on him. Daddy was a salesman and traveled all week, leaving on Monday morning and coming home on Friday evening. Of course over the weekend he expected Mama to get his clothes washed and ironed and ready for him to pack. This particular time, with tiny little stitches, mama sewed up the fly of all Daddy's boxers. And then giggled all week every time she thought about it. Daddy had to rip those stitches out with his pocket knife!

Mama would always take a dare. I remember once her good friend and neighbor, Doris, dared her to put on a bikini and walk around in the backyard. That wouldn't have been so bad...except we'd just had a 6 inch snow. We have pictures of her posing in that bikini. :)

When we traveled, which wasn't often and was always to California to see my grandma, it was almost a joke that mama would have to stop to go to the bathroom every 30 minutes. (I've turned into her!) I remember once that she fussed and squirmed and finally told Daddy he would just have to pull over on the side of the road - she couldn't wait. We were in west Texas I think and there was a little hill just beyond the road. She ran up the hill, went behind a billboard, dropped her shorts and squated down. Only then did she hear the laughing behind her - a field full of folks were picking cotton right behind her. She nearly fell over laughing...but she didn't stop!

I'm nearly 63 years old and if I live to be 93 I'll still miss her.