Sunday, May 10, 2009

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.

19 comments:

  1. Touched by your post.

    You mom might not know you now but in her subconscious she must be thinking of you. You have to believe that.

    I know I can't fully understand it and I can't even imagine what I would do if my mother did not recognise me.

    BTW, How many pins did you collect?

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  2. I'm so sorry, Sage, but I'm glad you have warm memories of your mom. Sounds like she taught you well and helped you become the man you are today. I give her lots of credit for that...and I wish her a happy Mother's Day! :)

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  3. Love the old picture! I was wondering what punishment you guys endured once your dad found the nuts. I guess the fact that you don't remember it is self-preservation. :-)

    By the way...I'm back. Did you miss me?

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  4. Gautami, thanks for your kind words. I think I ended up with five years.

    Scarlet, thanks for your warm thoughts.

    Murf, it's been a little quiet in blog world with you and Ed gone at the same time... humm?

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  5. Whoa. I wasn't expecting that. I'm so sorry. My mother-in-law died of A. and now my uncle has it.

    No matter what lip service people give it about living in the now, it's a terrible disease. For what are we except what we have been, known, lived, loved???

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  6. You're right, Alzheimer's is a terrible disease.
    My grandfather forgot a great deal of things in his old age and behaved in the most unexpected manner, it took us a while to realise that it could be something like Alzheimer's..

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  7. Sage, I'm so sorry. I know that must be terrible for you.

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  8. One of the things I've learned as I traveled was never forget the road behind and don't fight to much the things in the road where you currently stand.

    It would seem, brother that you picked up the same lessons.

    Tears are good.

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  9. That is a weird coincidence (or is it?), isn't it? ;-)

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  10. I'm sorry you and your family are so impacted by this terrible disease.

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  11. Remember the deed but not the punishment? Maybe secretly your parents found it funny and just couldn't--except for the yearly reminders which were punishment enough

    I'm so sorry about your Mom Sage. To be a spouse or child of somebody with Alzheimer’s has to feel beyond belief horrible.

    I think you alluded in my comments to problems you were having with your mother before. You have to know that they were early signs and to let them go. Easy for me to say :)

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  12. Sage: First, Moms are special and my heart goes out to you knowing that even with Alzheimers, your Mom loves you. My Dad had Parkinson's, but they are not the same at all. Please know you and your Mom are in my thoughts and prayers.

    I had a neighbor as a kid who put a bottle of beer in her gas tank and fortunately nothing happened. I was touched by your post, my friend.

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  13. Beautiful post Sage. Your memories and your life are a wonderful tribute to your Mom. It must be hard at times. Thanks for sharing this.

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  14. Your post made me remember the only time I won a reward for perfect attendance to Sunday school. I won a Sinbad the Sailor record which was full of fights and killings. I loved that record but now I have found it odd that it was even a prize. I wish I still had that record and of course, a way to play it again.

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  15. Ed's comment reminded me of the time that I tagged along with the next door neighbor boys to some sort of non-Sunday Sunday school during summer vacation. I must've blocked it out because I don't remember much about it other than I made a bookmark with stickers that were photos of the suns rays coming down through the clouds.

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  16. I am so touched by your post.
    Take care. God Bless.

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  17. My thoughts and prayers are with you, and especially your father during these trying times. Hang on to those memories. They are your real "Mother" now.

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  18. I read this days ago, but really had no idea what to say. I still don't, except that I'm so sorry. I have no idea how you manage to deal with that, my friend. That has to be one of the most cruel of all diseases.

    I'm glad you have good memories and that you've written so many of them down. And it's good that you're there for your dad, I'm sure.

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