Things My Mother (and Dad) Taught Me--

It dawned on me today something that I just took for granted. The influence of my mother in my everyday life. I seem to be a natural nurturer, right? I try to not be hovering type, but sometimes I cannot help myself and the obsession if you will.


Last photo of Grandpa----> Rodriguez I took when I visited him at his Assisted Living in Boise, Idaho August 2003

Let me give an example: A somewhat surprised awakening came to pass when Grandpa Rodriguez first came to live with me. I attended to him and his every need, feeding him, going with him places he was unfamiliar, those kinds of things. I dedicated every waking moment to him, and he seemed to appreciate that in me. Well, I remember him sitting at the bottom of the stairs in the hallway to tie his shoe laces and I said, "So, do you feel like a new man being here with me?." He smiled a toothy grin and said, "I don't know about that Mija, but I feel like I have a NEW mother." I just leaned toward him and planted a big kiss on his cheek. I cherish that memory of him and "the time I had with him was very precious. Each day more precious that the day before." I know I did all I possibly could to carry out his wishes. I have no doubt that we were very blessed with that time together. He set a standard for me also in looking for his qualities in an eternal companion. So I patiently wait for that to come, since I have asked that he find him and bring him to me. Time will bear this out. Lo veras.

<---Setting the Standard

No Dummies here!

Grandma Rodriguez used to say, "I didn't raise any dummies." So that makes us, her posterity very intelligent! She had a lot of wisdom in her counsel and approach to life. I always had conversations with her but what she would encourage and express her optimism that everything would work or be just fine. It has influenced my thinking to be positive.

<--This was taken in 1955 about the time we moved to Fullerton. This was Easter Sunday 1955

She was a people watcher and a good one at that. She was a good judge of character. And I never found her to be incorrect in that area. We observed many as we sat in the car at Sav-On's drug store in Norwalk. Daddy would go into the store to buy something and we'd watch the shoppers walk by the front of the store. We had a front row seat. Mama would analyze their comings and goings. She said once of a man that appeared unkempt, and say in Spanish, "Mira no mas, se pieno' y vino." It meant literally that he combed his hair and went when actually he didn't comb his hair and looked like he had just gotten out of bed. You know, with bed-hair sticking up in the back of his head where he'd slept on it. It is too funny now to think about it.
I must have been all of nine years old at the time. We had just moved from Chicago to California.

Mama was very decisive, knew what she wanted and had no qualms of speaking her mind. The trip from Chicago to California is just one example of this quality. We arrived in Barstow, California in mid-February. Daddy had a job transfer if he chose to take it with the railroad in that desert town. The temperature was already in the 80s. She sized up the town, which was not very large and perceived that if it was that hot in February what would it be in the middle of summer? She didn't like the feel of the town either. There were a lot of braceros there picking fruit, oranges, lemons.

It was the best decision that could have been made for the good of us all. We managed to find a place to stay in the meantime Daddy found another job in the outskirts of Los Angeles. He found a job as a machinist which he was qualified and trained to do. He had done refrigeration in Chicago on the railroad job with Union Pacific Railroad. He also schooled himself in the electrical field to become an electrician by going to night school as it was called. Before my father's 90 day leave of absence was up I overhead Daddy and Mama talking that if we didn't find a house to live in and buy we would go back to Chicago.

Well, I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to please help us find a house to be able to stay. I loved the warm weather and didn't want to go back to the cold weather. My mother had instilled in me to pray and I know my prayer was answered. It was a simple prayer, and I prayed every night on my own before I went to sleep. I knew at that age of nine how powerful prayers can be and answered. It was the beginning of my faith in God and Jesus Christ. I was deeply rooted and am very thankful for a mother that taught me to pray, have faith and believe.I was blessed by her example.

There were times I would come into her room where my sister Linda lie in her bed with a fever. My mother was praying over her quietly with brushing her hands over my sisters head--so I would just watch her and know her prayers were heard and my sister became well. I was twelve at the time and we had moved to Fullerton by then.

My mother would often come to see us when we lived in Garden Grove. There would be dirty dishes in my sink that needed to be washed. She would simply go look for the dish soap and start a sink of water and wash the dishes for me. Or she would help fold laundry that was out to fold on the sofa. She just went about her business as we visited and I loved that about her. I felt no judgment, only her love for me and her willingness to help to whatever she could for the time we spent together that day.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

She was a shopper and liked the bargains. There were no Dollar stores then, but there was the Five and Dime, almost similar to it. She was always looking for trinkets for the grandkids. She'd buy Sippy cups, or bibs, or Easter candies, and those marshmallow orange peanut shaped candy, Valentine's and send them to us during Valentine time. Now, some days when I go into Family Dollar I see myself doing that same kind of shopping for the bargains for treats for my grandkids. I say, "Oh my goodness, I am turning into my Mother." My grandchildren love it. And so do I!

I noticed in my grandchildren the things their mothers have taught them as well. And so the cycle continues.

I will continue this subject for tomorrow's blog--Love, Mom aka Anna