It would Have Been 58 Years

Both my parents have passed. I lost my dad in 1997 and my Mom in 2002. I know they really haven't left us, that they still live on within us. Heck, I can still hear them when words come out of my mouth that sound like something my Mom said. That's usually when I open my mouth and something comes out that sounds like something my Mom would have said. Hahaha..is that ever annoying ;) Then there are the mornings I look into the mirror and see my Mother looking back at me. Heck! Now how did that happen...I am turning into my mom.

My mom and dad were what I am calling Extraordinarily Ordinary Folks. They were the type who who sacrificed everything for their family. They took us on all vacations, family trips to the cottage, or to visit my grandparents were car trips, with a nice picnic that Mom had packed. We would stop at a nice picnic area in a provincial park to have our lunch, and maybe feed the deer. This would have been before we knew it wasn't the right thing to do. Then Dad would take a few pictures with his latest camera.


Dad worked, Mom stayed home and had a snack ready for us after school - usually cookies, pudding or toast and jam. We sat down together every night for dinner and after the nightly news, watched the one TV in the house together - a family type show - Bonanza, Dick Van Dyke, Ed Sullivan. We had our good clothes and our school clothes and got changed right after school in order to keep them clean. We had our play clothes. We dressed up for church, visiting friends or family, even going out shopping.

They checked our homework, and the "no TV until dishes and homework are done' rule was followed in our house. They made us keep a strict curfew and get good grades in school - or else.


I was never spanked but I was grounded plenty usually for breaking curfew or bringing home a not so great report card. I dreaded the talk from my dad about "how disappointed we are in you Deb. We expect better of you' Sheesh that was torture. That cam from a kind, sweet man who ever raised his voice. Knowing I let them down was 100 times worse than being spanked. My parents NEVER missed a school meeting, band performance, car wash fundraiser and made all my relatives buy my Girl Guide cookies. We didn't have bus service, so Dad drove me to all my activities and drove my friends also. He was so reliable and always there.

I grew up in a working class, modest, happy and loving Christian home, not fundamentalists, just quiet Christian folks, Anglican (Church of England, Episcopalian) church. We lived by the golden rule, went to Sunday School and youth group. I took dance lessons, swimming lessons, tennis lessons. We had lots to eat, lots of good, regular comfort food and there were always seconds.

Dad took us skating, tobogganing, collecting leaves for school projects and to the library. I got my love of reading and voracious appetite for fresh fruit from him. As I got a bit older and we moved back closer to the city, I loved going out on Saturday mornings with him while he ran his errands. We always ended up at a great deli for lunch - corned beef on rye, a dill pickle and a big glass of pop. Drinking pop/soda was a treat for me. That was usually allowed on a weekend when we were out for lunch. We didn't have soft drinks in the house except for special occasions when I was younger.


Mom made some of my clothes. They were fairly strict but very fair. No make up to school, no ears pierced and no dating or going in cars with boys until I was 16 and they had to meet the boy! When I was in my 30s, she flipped if I lit a cigarettes (I know, my bad) in public. It just wasn't right to her, very unladylike!

That was 58 years ago today that it all started :0)) .


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