Mama

I was brainstorming today trying to come up with a good Mother's Day column for the Daily Mountain Eagle. One thought I had was "The Five Things I Most Love About My Mama"
1. Her sense of humor - The other day when I asked her how she feels, she said "with my hands."
2. Her sense of charity - my mother has lived below poverty levels for most of her life, but she has always found $20 to give to a family who lost everything in a fire or suffered some other kind of misfortune.
3. Her sense of what's right - you never had to wonder where she stood when it came to doing what's right. I believe she has always done right, even when no one else was watching.
4. Her work ethic - before she became frail these last few years, she would work rings around most anyone. She taught us all to work hard at what ever was at hand. I must say, I didn't see the wisdom in these words when I was younger, but as I get older, I've come to realize that it's what sets people apart.
5. Her apple pie - she has the recipe for an apple turnover pie that is so good, it's difficult to describe. My mom knows that Jilda and I try to eat as healthy as possible so whenever Jilda would ask her for the recipe for that apple pie, she would say "I'll write that down for you some time." But she never did. One day a few years ago, after we had both eaten two big helpings of that pie, Jilda asked her again for the recipe. My mom started to hedge but then said - if I tell you, you'll never eat it again. Jilda promised that we would. Mom said OK, you start out with some apples, two cups of sugar, lard, two sticks of butter.............we both understood why she didn't want to give up the recipe. But we both agreed, that if a few pieces of that pie killed us, then we'd die happy.
Don't forget Mother's Day this Sunday.