I've seen the quote above posted on facebook several time by different women and I realize it's true and I'm proud of it. My mom has the wisdom of the ages and if I can be like her in any small way it's ok with me!
It's funny how much we become what our mothers are/were. I was reading a blog post from Arlee at Wrote by Rote, he's doing a great A thru Z Challenge using Music. His letter today was "V" and he chose the song Volare by Dean Martin. I'm listening to the youtube video he posted while I write this and I remember Dean from his movies with Jerry Lewis...what a voice!
Arlee tells of his mother's love of music and how he remembers her stacking a pile of albums on their hi-fi and doing her housework to the sound of music. What a wonderful memory for him. He then asks:
What songs do you associate most with your childhood? Did you have a stay-at-home mom and did she listen to music in the daytime? How old were you when you first began to appreciate music?
My comment to his post has actually turn into a post. I find that happens ALOT and that is why I love reading other bloggers, because they inspire me.
I commented, "Your mom loved music and played it often. My mom wasn't a big fan of music. I rarely remember it being played in our home so I never became a fan of music and even now only listen to it on the radio in the car. I don't have an iPod, I don't download music, I don't buy CD's. But mom loved books and I grew up with a love of reading. Mom loved games so I have every game imaginable. Mom loved puzzles, so I in turn love puzzles, even though now I do them online."
To this day I read all the time. Everyone in my family is a great fan of reading in the bathroom and believe it or not there have been times I've been in other people's bathrooms where there is no reading material and I've read the back of cans of Comet and Ajax, shampoo bottles, Mr Clean and Formula 409! I know my brothers and sister would probably 'fess up to the same thing! Mom taught us that! Well not reading Ajax bottles, but she gave us our love of reading.
Mom loved games, we played Yahtzee, Scrabble, Monopoly, Cards, Pick Up Sticks, Jenga, Cootie, Sorry and so many more! Mom always won, always! Now we look back and think maybe she was a bit of a cheater? We can't prove it, but we still suspect it. Dad would sleep in his recliner and every once in a while when we got too loud and woke him up he would look at us like we were nuts and go right back to sleep, knowing his little family was safe and sound and having fun!
Two things were always on our dining room table growing up. One one side was my mom's sewing machine. She was and is a Master Seamstress! She would make matching dresses for me, my sister and one for her! She would make doll clothes. She even sewed the Cheerleader Outfits for me and my fellow Cheerleaders in high school one year. We looked like dolls in our very unique Blue and Gold Cheerleader outfits!
The thing on the other side of the dining room table growing up was a big piece of plywood with a jigsaw puzzle on it. Mom always had a puzzle going. She would buy most of them at yard sales. We loved to spend quiet time in the evening just sitting there eating a little snack and working on the puzzle with mom. My favorite time was when we would start a new puzzle and she would divide up the pieces in the top and bottom of the box and then give one to me to pick out the edge pieces as we always built the frame first, then divided up the remaining pieces by color.
I shocked a friend recently when I told him that I wasn't a big fan of music and that growing up we never listened to music. He was stunned and said, "I can't imagine a house with no music. Music is the life of a house!" I told him, "Well I can't imagine a house without books, that was what brought life and other worlds and culture and opened up the world to us!" And that is what my mother taught me.
What's your favorite memory as a child with your mother? or your Father? Was music a big part of your world growing up? Or were you more bookish like me? I'd love to know!
Pretty damned nosy aren't you? Nah just kidding. My parents had music that sort of divided three ways, WWII swing music, big band, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and the likes. Then 50s stuff like Nat King Cole, Perry Como, Andy Williams, and Frank Sinatra. Then there was Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. They had every album Alpert ever made. I pretty much hated all of it except the one classical music record they had, The Worlds Greatest Music. This was one of those grocery store deals. You bought a plate, or encyclopedia, or a record every week and then after 26 weeks you had a set of junky dishes, a crappy encyclopedia, or a sorry collection of music. Even though I "hated" classical music I would listen to the classical record. Little did I realize at the time I wasn't even listening to an entire piece. When I took music appreciation in college I looked at the record and became aware that this was not The Worlds Greatest Music it was chunks of the Worlds Greatest Music. There was a single movement from three or four different compositions on one side and some wretched Chopin on the back that sounded like psychopath was playing a piano with a pair of fire axes. I suppose one would say that the Chopin was too intellectual for me.
ReplyDeleteNo my mother didn't listen to music when she did house work, she sang housework drudgery songs. Camp Town Races, Had a Little Monkey, Sent him to the country..., and Yankee Doodle. She could sing those three songs until you were ready to go crazy.
We were not a real bookish family, but I was a very bookish kid. I read a lot of books during my teens. I remember my mother belonging to the Book of the Month Club and she did read novels but that was her private world. I remember the titles Marjorie Morningstar and To Kill A Mockingbird. My father was an alcoholic. After a mean weekend of drinking and going back to work, Monday evenings were devoted to staying at home and reading. He started reading the World Book Encyclopedia. He picked up the A and just started reading. I don't remember how far he got, but he went through at least several volumes. I guess he was an expert in all subjects that began with A or B.
See why I'm nosy? Cause then people respond with all kinds of interesting info and you learn things. More about the person commenting and about songs you never heard of. I knew Camp Town Races, do dah!. I knew Yankee Doodle, but I had never heard Had a Little Monkey! Kinda cute song, albeit a little morbid!
DeleteI remember you mentioning your parents bought the Worlds Greatest Music. I remember seeing the records and encyclopedias and dishes in the stores. I really wanted the encyclopedias and my mom bought me A but since we lived 30 miles from the nearest town we only went to the store like once a month. So by the time we went back they were done with the encylcopedias and on to dishes. I never got the whole set!
Thank you for sharing, as always it's enlightening and a pleasure!
pretty nice blog, following :)
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