Mother's Day Post

I found this photo on the internet. It’s of a Sunday School attendance pin, like the one described below. Mine had a number of bars for additional years hanging on it. If I ever find it, I’ll post a picture. The bottom photo shows my brother and me and our parents. I'm held by my Dad.

I like to think I was into alternative energy as a kid, trying to figure out a means to power Dad’s Buick with something other than gasoline. Had it worked, I could have saved the country from those gas lines we experienced in the 70s. Truth is, I have no idea why one afternoon, enlisting the help of my younger brother and sister, we picked up hickory nuts and placed them into the gas tank. Maybe I’d heard someone say that Volkswagens were powered by squirrels and thought the same must be true for Buicks. This happened on a Saturday. The next day was Sunday. We were all dressed up for chruch, but didn’t even make it to the highway when the car quit. That year, my brother, sister and I missed out on the perfect attendance award for Sunday School.

When I was a kid, you got a pin for your first year of perfect attendance. Then, for your second year, you received a gold leaf wreath that wrapped around the pin. For your third year or perfect attendance and every year thereafter, you received a bar that hung below the wreath. The third one was straight, but those every year afterwards was fancier. Somewhere, I’m not sure where, there is a pin with a string of bars for my five years of perfect attendance Sunday School. Every year when they gave out the awards, my Mom would remind us that we would have had another year’s award if it hadn’t been for those hickory nuts. I felt bad and guilty for losing the opportunity not only for myself, but also for my younger brother and sister. Now I realize that I really should have felt bad for Dad who had to take the gas tank off as he tried to figure out why gas wasn’t making it to the carbonator. It’s probably good that my memory is selective. I’m not sure what happened to us when he discovered nuts in the gas tank.

My Mom always made sure we attended Sunday School. Even when we were travelling and on vacation, we’d find a church where we’d go to Sunday School. She’d always get a note to take back to our home church so we could keep our perfect attendance record. We didn’t always stay for worship when we visited these other churches. This bothered me, but Mom made sure we were there for Sunday School. Mom also taught Sunday School, but never our classes. She felt we needed our own teacher and not a Mom in our class. Although can I laugh at her concerned about us receiving our attendance pins, I am thankful she was so interested in our activities. She was always there, not just at church activities, but also for ball games and Boy Scout’s Court of Honor. And she was always proud of us.

A few weeks ago, my daughter was talking on the phone to my Dad. Mom came into the room and asked my Dad who he was talking to now. He told her my daughter’s name and Mom asked, “Who’s that?” While my daughter listened, my Dad explained that it’s her Sage’s daughter. “Who’s Sage?” She asked. My Dad told her it’s her son and she responded, “I don’t have a son.” As I’ve said before, “I miss my Mom.” Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease. I’ll call her in a few hours. We’ll try to talk for a few minutes, then she’ll hand the phone back to my Dad and he'll walk out on their porch and we’ll share a few tears.