Escrow Carolyn: MOTHER'S DAY REMEMBRANCES

This last weekend was Mother’s Day.

My Mom died on the Monday after Mother’s Day in 2008, so for me annually it’s a tough time.

This year though I could not help but think of some of the women who have played a role in my becoming the woman I am today.

Yes, there was my Mom, Glenna Louise Campbell, a southern belle, born and breed in the State of Texas. She loved being a woman, and was a co-dependent up to the week she died. A favorite memory of Mother for me is one particular afternoon when I was in the 6^th grade. (I thought I was a grown up, Mom still saw me as a child). It was pouring rain, I had walked home from school, mother greeted me at the front door, with a towel to dry off my hair, and proceeded to tell me she had milk and hot chocolate chip cookies to help soothe the walk. It is a fun memory.

There was Nana, my Dad’s Mother, who taught me to cook red beans. Nana and Granddaddy lived on a ranch outside of Talpa, Texas. Every Saturday they went to town where Nana’s hair and nails were “fixed” for Sunday church. Nana would let me put my little scrubby fingers in the left over hot hand lotion, at the manicure station as I sat on her lap.

In contrast consider Mama, a night shift hospital nurse, Mother’s Mother. Mama loved to garden, even in the red dirt of West Texas. My fondest memory of this giant of a woman is a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Mama died when I was sixteen of Pancreatic Cancer, we did not even know she was sick until she was dying (she knew).

Or consider my Aunt Knoxine, my Dad’s older sister. She is in her late 80’s and calls me even now just to touch bases. I love to hear her southern drawl and her opening question, “How are you doing, darlin’?”

There are other women who have made lasting impressions on me. Ruth Barnes, the mother of 4 girls. Ruth taught school, and was a full time pastor’s wife. Or Ann Kemp, from Bandon, Oregon, her husband Cecil was the town banker, and they owned cranberry bogs. They built a club house for teens to be able to simply hang out in! Ann always had time for any kid with questions.

As I pondered the day, I wondered: am I leaving a lasting mark on today’s youth? Who and how will I be remembered? Will the young girls in my life think of me as someone who actually took the time to listen and love on them like my Aunt Esa?

Yes. Sunday was a tough day for me.

However it was probably no tougher for me than it was for my Mom when she lost her Mother, or the other women I know who lived before me.

Today’s young people are important, they matter, and they need help our help to understand life, set future goals, dream big dreams and make plans how they will live life.