Memory of a Comet Part II

In 1992 Cedar City experienced a larger earthquake than they had in a while.  It was closer to the St. George area, but measured a 5.9 magnitude.  It was not huge or damaging, but it was scary.  My mother was always up in the earliest hours of the morning doing her sewing.  She had her own business and that is when she worked the most.  One early fall morning she heard something that sounded like a freight train and suddenly she knew what was coming.  She heard it before we all felt it.  She yelled at everyone in the house waking them and ran down the stairs and out the door.  I remember running out of the house while feeling the ground shake and seeing the walls move.  My oldest brother jumped the entire stair way to get out of the house as pictures were falling off of the walls.  It all happened so fast and yet it felt like it lasted forever.  It probably would not take a giant earthquake to damage our 100 year old, adobe brick, pioneer home.  That was one reason earthquakes were so scary to me, the idea of houses falling down. That earthquake shook me from the inside out and did more damage on my insides than anything around me.  I was so petrified that I literally clung to my mother all day long. With the news and talk about after shocks taking place throughout the day, I refused to go to school that day and my mom understood and let me stay home.  I think I was only 6, in the 1st grade at the time.  A day later, when I went back to school, I was still pretty nervous.    
   
With my Mother's recent visit and my last post, I just had to write about her too!  I have always had a strong connection to my Mother.  She was the one I went to for everything!  She always understood me, trusted me, and respected me.  This story is just one example of how she listened to me, believed me and respected my needs.  Even as a young child she believed me when I was sick or sad, or when I needed something.  She had so much compassion for me.  Even when other people would be tempted to assume that I was lying or trying to get attention, she didn't.  I don't think I ever did lie about being sick because I actually liked going to school most of the time and I was sick so much that I hated it, why would I lie about it?  When one of my teachers at school expressed concern about my shyness and quietness, she did not think it was something to be concerned about.  She just accepted that that was who I was.  She never put me down or criticized my introverted personality when other adults did.  She never wanted me to be afraid to do things I wanted or to achieve greater things.  She always encouraged me to push myself, but without making me feel forced to do something.  She never wanted me to make the same mistakes she did, pass up opportunities because of fear or doubt.  She openly talked about her mistakes with me and never made me feel ashamed to do the same.  She always encouraged me to talk through things rather than keep it all in.  Once she got her feelings out she could get over it, that's what she always told me!

Things I love because of my Mom!  I love hand crafted items.  My Mother has always been an artist.  She has been a seamstress most of her life.  She made her own wedding dress and many other wedding dresses.  She made many of my dresses while I was in my little years as well as some of mine and my sister's formal dresses in high school.  When we went shopping for dresses or clothes we could always buy whatever styles we wanted whether immodest, too big, too small, too plain because we knew mom could always fix it. She also painted, toll painting to be specific.  She painted clothes, shoes, dresses, wood crafts, dolls and just about anything paint could adhere to.  I remember her tracing detailed designs onto various canvases and sometimes even free hand drawing them.  She wasn't half bad at drawing.  I remember I would make her draw pictures of different things during sacrament meeting at church when I was bored.  She made cloth and yarn cabbage patch dolls for us when we were kids.  She could quilt, cross stitch, decorate cakes and paint like a pro.  I always admired her wide array of artistic talents.

I love flowers because of her.  She has always had a green thumb.  We always had one of the most beautiful yards on the block because of her flower gardens and flower pots.  She would spend hours out in the yard planting and tending her gardens.  I wish I could do the same, but I'm not as fascinated or entertained by the ritual of gardening.  Her knowledge of gardening was always continuing and all of us reaped the reward of the food and beauty of her gardens.  I'll never forget the smell of a freshly watered flower garden under the shade of large trees in the spring and summer.

I love TV and movies because of her!  My mom was a bit of a couch potato, haha, not really, but she would do a lot of sewing and folding laundry in front of the TV.  She loved watching TV.  I remember watching many shows with her, Walker Texas Ranger, Hercules, Xena Warrior Princess, Smallville, Lois and Clark, TGIF lineup, I Love Lucy, Andy Griffith Show, Bob Hope, and many more.  She loved going to the movies.  She would tell us stories about going to the movies when she was a kid and how it only cost a dime or a quarter.  I love old movies because of her.  Whenever my Dad went out of town we would rent movies and often times we rented Jerry Lewis movies or Bob Hope movies, and we laughed!  I could literally sit and watch TV and movies all day long, I love it!  On the flip side, I also love reading because of her.  She reads a lot, she is always reading a book.  When I was a teenager and a college student we would both read the same series at the same time and we enjoyed talking about it.  We would have to buy multiple copies of the same books because we would fight over who got to read it next.  Whenever I read or listen to a great book, I buy her a copy and send it to her so she can read it too!

I love baking because of her.  My parents gave me an easy bake oven for Christmas one year, little did they know that it would set me down an artistic path all my own!  The perfect picture of kids out playing in the snow, building snow forts and having snowball fights and then running into a house sweltering with the smell of fresh baked goods, stripping off layers of clothing and sitting by the warm fireplace with a cup of hot cocoa and a cookie or cinnamon roll.  That was my childhood at least a few times per winter.  My mom would always have to wait for cold weather to bake because we did not have central heating or air conditioning.  We had to be careful about when we turned the oven on.  We had a wood burning fireplace, but in the winter my mom would bake just for the sake of turning on the oven to add a little extra heat to the house.  I loved helping my mom in the kitchen baking!  I think making cinnamon rolls were my favorite because it could keep you busy nearly all day if you had nothing else to do.  My only wish......that baked goods did not make you gain weight, haha!  They are my weakness!  Now that there are baking competition TV shows........well that is the perfect mix, right up my ally!

I love Halloween because of her!  My mom would go all out at Halloween, I always looked forward to decorating the house and yard with her each year.  We never did anything too gross, it was usually more along the cute line, but she did carve grave stones out of styro-foam to make part of our yard into a graveyard scene.  Our house was perfect for Halloween with its aged old look and wide front porch, and the many huge trees that shed their leaves around that time.  Halloween was always fun, I actually liked handing out candy more than going trick-or-treating just so I could see people jump at the spider my mom rigged on the front porch to drop down on visitors. One year we put bubble wrap on the walk way to our front door and covered it with leaves.  When the kids discovered the popping sound they would usually jump all the way up the walk, they thought it was the greatest thing.  When adults stepped on it, it scared them to death, haha!  My mom was the master of the unexpected surprise!   Our house was popular on Halloween because of the elaborate decorations, fog machine, and other surprises!  Sometimes kids would stroll by multiple times because they thought it was the funnest house to visit!

I love giving thoughtful gifts because of her.  My mom always gave the best and most thoughtful gifts.  She used her creativity and made every gift special.  She always put a lot of thought into anything she gave and added an extra personal touch!  I remember sometimes when I was sick she would come home from running errands with something that she thought might make me feel better, like stamps and a stamp pad, pens, coloring books, reading book, or some little trinket or small toy.  They were just little things, but very thoughtful.  If I could just be a professional gift giver!  I love personalizing gifts for people!  Shopping for birthday, Christmas, or Just because gifts is one of my favorite things to do!

I love having fun because of her!  At youth girls camp she was the first one down the mud slide every year!  Our ward group was notorious for pranks and having "too much fun" at camp while my Mom was the Young Women's president.  She is never afraid to have a little fun, get her hands dirty and never afraid to be a little embarrassed!  She always enjoys a little adventure and is usually not afraid to try something new.  She always appreciates a good practical joke!  She loves to laugh!  Besides just having fun, I think the most important thing she taught me was to be happy no matter the circumstance.  She was and is always a great example of this.  No matter what, she always finds a way to be happy or to smile.  She taught me to feel the sunshine through the rain and she often times is the rainbow on the rainy days in life!

The Love Letters museum in Salt Lake City fit my mom and I perfectly!  There were so many quotes and exhibits that reminded me of her and her personality!  It inspired my last post about the idea of love letters and this post reminding me of her creativity!  Her true personality was caught in some of these photos, she is truly a kid at heart!

Empower yourself by exploring your creativity and think about what creativity is inspired in you by your mother!
https://www.lovelettersmuseum.com/