Even if the groundhog sees his shadow, right before Spring I feel the need to do my “Spring Cleaning” which entails not only heavy duty cleaning of the surfaces but also going through all the closets, cabinets and drawers and tossing things. The problem is that when you hit the memorabilia cabinet it takes forever because you have this “walk down memory lane” while sorting out the precious items you find such as pictures, letters, old recital programs, and lovely drawings which were early signs of artistic genius created by the grandkids.
Today I came across some old files of my Mother who passed away in 2000 at the age of 85. My Mom and I didn’t always get along especially since I was “Daddy’s little girl” and could do no wrong which didn’t always go along with my Mom’s plans to discipline me. I did love her though and after my Dad died when I was 19 I realized that she was indeed the pillar of the family with her strength, tenacity and fortitude.
When I was six years old my mother had to have her left leg amputated due to cancer. It was a traumatic event for her and the rest of us. But as catastrophic as it was, she woke up from the surgery and asked her surgeon in the recovery room “Will I still be able to swim” to which he replied “of course”. She then said “Good, because I couldn’t before”. Since she had been a high school physical education teacher prior to the surgery, she decided that she would not just go into classroom teaching but rather go back to college for her Masters Degree and become a guidance counselor. She was 39 years old at the time and worked at the school named after my family in Knoxville, Tennessee until she was 72 years old.
That should provide a little of the background on my Mom who was a fighter until the very end of her life and was one of the most clever, innovative and hilarious women I have ever known- not to mention the strongest and bravest. So, while looking at the files she kept in organized folders, I ran across letters she had written to some friends who after her death gave to me. Here are some excerpts from those letters:
She, like all of us hated getting old and told us all she would go “kicking and screaming” which she did by the way. In the letter she said, “Even the preacher is making me uneasy.” Recently he asked me “Ruth, do you believe in the hereafter” to which I replied “I surely do. Each time I go into another room I think, now what did I come in here after?”
On phone calls she said “I don’t resent telephone calls. Answering the phone provides my daily physical and mental exercise. The phone rings and I go into action; pull the lever to release foot rest on the recliner, bend and pick up crutches, push with arms to get out of chair, a balancing act to get crutches properly placed, a mad rush to reach the phone before it goes silent. I’m working on improving the speed of this action as my best time is picking up the phone on the 6th ring.”
“Along with my favorite mental exercise (jumping to conclusions) I give my mind a workout trying to come up with a snappy answer to the dumb questions I get from the people who make these phone calls”. An example of a phone call:
“Hello”
“Mrs. Hilton”
“Yes”
With excitement and enthusiasm in their voice – “You have won five free dance lessons at our dance studio”.
“Well, my dear, you are faced with quite a challenge as the one dance I may be able to do with only one leg is the Bunny Hop”.
A moment of dead silence and then the click of the telephone receiver being replaced.
Another example:
“Mrs. Hilton, this is Miller’s department store and we have men’s shirts on sale and wondered if you would like to take advantage of this sale”
“Do you furnish a man for those shirts?”
“No”
“Then count me out – no man, no shirt”
