Mama used to…
Mash my donuts into a pancake for me. That made them fun to eat.
Make me special “little boy biscuits” from the dough that was leftover after she cut out all the big biscuits.
Dote and dote and dote over my stupid little cutouts and things that I gave her for Mothers Day.
Hold me when I was sad, and tell me how wonderful I was.
Ditto for me, for items 2, 3 and 4.
Damn, I miss both my mum and my grandma …
Mama used to…
Ask me why I wasn’t like my sister, neighbor, friend, etc.
Withold all praise.
Look at my report card with all As and one B and ask me why it wasn’t straight As.
Say things like, “What a nice picture you colored; you only went outside of the lines a few times, but that’s OK.”
Growing up with a Type-A mother who had never experienced unconditional love was tough. She did the best she could and I love her very much.
call me every day after work to see what kind of day I had. If she hadn’t called me by 6:30 then I called her.
She would make me strawberries and whipped cream every Friday, that was grocery day. Frozen strawberrys with carnation milk.
She made me tough, independent, and hard-working.
I miss my mama.
My mama…
Calls me at least every other day to make sure everything’s okay.
Gives me the whole house practically when I come home.
Always makes sure I have enough money.
When I was still at home, she’d make me grilled cheese sandwiches sometimes and sew up clothes that I’d ripped and ACTUALLY LISTENED to me sometimes.
Even though she does a lot of things I don’t like and she doesn’t always understand where I’m coming from, I still love my mother very much.
…tells my grandma to back off every once in a while when she becomes over bearing.
…sit up all night with me in a rocking chair when I had ear infections.
…let all my friends come over whenever they wanted for as long as they wanted and didn’t complain when we emptied the fridge.
…try to put me in a dress but still let me be a tomboy. (thanks mom!)
Wow, you and I have the same mom?
She wasn’t one of those sweet, nurturing types, but I know she did the best she could with what she had. Even for all the rough times and head-butting we’ve had, I still love her.
(((Spritle)))
Made cinnamon toast for me, cut off all the crusts and sliced it into four equal pieces because that was the way I liked it.
Was my Girl Scout leader for 6 years! (could not have been easy)
Woke me up one school morning to show me the dress she had stayed up all night sewing for me.
I need to go call my mommy, now. 
My mother did a lot of things that hurt me. But right now, I’m going to remember the things she did that made me feel good.
She used to sew my clothes from scratch. It was because we were too poor at the time to shop at the good stores, and the cheap stores had horrible clothing, but I never felt any stigma. I loved the clothes my mother made me. They were beautiful, better made than what you can buy at WalMart. She’s a wonderful seamstress.
She taught me to make the best chocolate chip cookies in the world. Half the truckers in the northeast know my mother’s cookies, it seems, since Dad would share them when she baked them, so two months before Christmas the baking began. All my father’s friends received cookies. Now I bake the cookies to give to my lover and very bestest friend, who appreciates them as much as anyone appreciates my mother’s. Apparently Mom taught me well.
When I came down with my annual flu around Christmastime, she would snuggle me in my bed under the quilt she made me, bring me tea and toast, and let me watch Christmas videos like Kenny & Dolly’s Christmas To Remember (which remains the defining soundtrack of the holiday season to me), Rudolph, Frosty, and that Claymation movie about Santa Claus where he grows up from a very young boy and there’s an elf with a big long nose who speaks all the languages of all the animals… does anybody else remember that movie? I’d love to have it on tape.
Nowadays, she sends me care packages with food, clothes she saw and thought I’d like, photographs of everyone back home, and housewares that I might not’ve bought myself - like the canister set I keep my flour, sugar and other cookie-making supplies in. And she pays off my credit card.
Can I borrow your mommy for a few weeks?
:Spritle runs to store for bread, eggs, milk, cinnamon and sugar:
You got it, but she HAS to be back by Thanksgiving!
My mom used to make me clothes, too. And curtains and blankets. She made all the pillows on our couch. And when we had to move a whole country away from her family and live on a farm when my dad lost his job, she made it fun. She decorated the kitchen of the doublewide with chicken paintings, and let us run around all we wanted, when before we weren’t even allowed in the front yard. Mom was brave that way. She tried to make it our little farm house, even though all she wanted was to go back.
She never got a job until last year, even when we needed the money, because she thought it was more important to always be home when we were sick and make us little extra “play-school” assignments and volunteer at our school than not to have to scrimp. Then, when she got a job, it was because we were all out of high school, and she wanted something to keep her as busy as she was used to.
She always stayed up and waited for us to come home when we went out, even if I was racing the sun home, she was there on the couch, making sure I was okay. And if any of us ever had to phone at 2 am because we didnt’ think we should drive home, she would come and get us and anyone else that needed a ride, and then return the next day to get the car. (bright and early, of course.)
Now, after surviving raising three girls and my dad my mom is being insanely brave. Every time she goes to the doctor, they find something else wrong. Yesterday, she got home from having her thyroid removed for tumors, and she has a 6-inch scar across her neck. It will look like she got a head transplant when it heals. I want to go see her, but home is too far away, and I can’t afford the bus fare until next month. The best I can do is talk to her through my dad or my sister, and have them tell me what she writes (she should be able to talk again soon, though). What I want most in the world right now is to give her a hug.
I love my mommy.