My mind wanders . . .

 

 When I was a child, one place we dared never go, was into our parent's bedroom.  That was one room in our home  which was strictly considered to be out of bounds unless we were distinctly invited into it.  It was like hallowed ground or something.

It was filled with white laminate furniture.  The headboard to the bed was a bookcase headboard with little cubbyholes on either side, and there was a tall boy dresser which was my fathers and a long low dresser which was my mothers.   I don't remember them having night tables, but with a bookcase headboard, they probably didn't need them.  The fittings, knobs, handles were a copper coloured metal.

Everything my mother had still looked brand new years and years after she had gotten it.  My parents didn't have the most expensive things, but they had the best that their money could buy and all was very well cared for and respected.

Both of my parents had grown up in very poor families and had not had very much when they were growing up.   I used to love listening to my mother talk about having to wear bloomers made from flour sacks that her mother had dyed blue and other tales.   And how excited they were when a package of used clothing came to them from their relatives in the US.   Back in the olden days . . .


 

My mother had a manicure set which sat on top of her dresser.  She probably still has it, I don't know. I bet it looks brand new.  It had a green leather case and the implements in it had white bone handles.  There was a tool for just about everything to do with hand or toe nails.   I remember thinking it to be very elegant.

There was a wooden jewel case on her dresser as well, which had her black diamond jewelry set in it.  Earrings and a necklace . . . her jewels were not expensive but as a child, I can remember thinking they were all very beautiful, even if they were only costume jewelry.  She still loves jewelry.  Necklaces, earrings, bracelets.   I have never felt comfortable wearing either one, about the only jewelry I wear is earrings, and I even like those to be plain, but then I have never been or felt beautiful like my mother.  My father's family thought she looked like the Queen, and I suppose she did in a way  . . .




My mother's dresser smelled like her favourite perfume, Ma Griffe.  I remember as an adult finding a bottle of that perfume and buying it for her, thinking I had gotten her the best gift ever.  To this day if I smell that perfume, I think of my mother.

My father's dresser always smelled like leather and tobacco, cork grease and butterscotch wafers.



 
My parents always went out dancing on Saturday evenings.  Friday night was my father's night to go out with his friends, but Saturdays were their night together as a couple.  Mom was always very elegantly turned out.   She always swooshed into the room, crinolines rustling, her pefume filling the air.  I am sure my father was always very proud to have her on his arm.  I don't think there was every any couple more elegant than my mother and father on a Saturday night.

They did this throughout my whole childhood years and up until they got divorced . . .  this dancing on Saturday nights.  My father still likes to go to a dance . . . now and then, and my mother was going out dancing at the weekends right up until she had her cancer op three years ago.



One year she won a prize for hoola hooping.   I think she still has it.  It was a stuffed banana, I believe.  She was hoola hooping every morning up until her cancer op as well.

I am looking forward to calling her this afternoon.  As you know, I call her every Sunday afternoon.  We mostly just talk about the same thing each week, but I always enjoy our conversations anyways.  She doesn't go very far these days, to the bank a couple of times a month, to Walmart every Saturday, her Doctors appointments, hair appointments, etc.   She has a foot lady come in every now and again to do her toes, etc.  I don't think she really likes to go very far these days.  I suppose with all of her toe problems it is a bit more difficult.

I miss her.    I always thought that I would be the one who would be there for her in her dotage, but it hasn't turned out that way.   My heart is there, but my body is here.  I am so very grateful for the care my sister gives to her.  It is a gift to the whole family.   I was talking to my father the day before yesterday and he told me that my sister takes very good care of my mother, and I felt really good about that.  Everyone should have someone who really loves them to care for them when they get older.

She was caring for my dad as well up until a few months back.  My dad's really independant however so he moved out to get a place of his own so he could have his own cat and stuff.  He still drives and gets around, takes himself off into Halifax to go to the Newfie club and Costco.  He's always had an eye for the ladies and is really quite charming.  ☺



I mostly look like him.  I wish I was thinner, but I am what I am.  I've never been elegant and I suppose I never will be!

It's fast and testimony meeting at church today.  The first Sunday of the month, after the sacrament is passed, we all have an opportunity to get up and bear our testimonys to the rest of the congregation.    It's one of my favourite meetings.  I love to hear other people's testimonys.

Here is mine.

I know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us and knows each of us by name, as individuals.    We matter to Him.  He cares about us and longs to have a close relationship with us.  Our spirits lived with Him before we came to earth in much the same way that our bodies lived with our earthly fathers and mothers while we were growing up.   Each person here on earth is a child of God.  Knowing that helps me to love my fellow beings even more, even when they are not so nice.   Jesus Christ is our older brother and our exemplar.  I believe that He did and said everything that the scriptures tell us He did and said.  By following His example and lead we can follow Him back into our Heavenly Father's presence.  He has shown us the way.  I try to live my life according to His teachings and I know that when I am struggling He is always there to help me along the way, and when I have not the strength to do it on my own, He carries me.   I am so very grateful for all that He has done for me, all that He does for me and all that He will yet do for me, for I know I could never make it on my own, and although I am not in a hurry to get there, I look forward to the day when I can kneel at His feet and truly be in His presence.   I am so very grateful for my family, my parents, sister, brother, my husband and children, and for the love they have for me and I for them.  Family is everything and key to our Heavenly Father's plan of happiness for His children.  Life is hard and will always be hard.   And when the going gets really tough, I am so very grateful for my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ who help to carry me through those rough patches. I truly believe that surrendering to God is the key to peace in our darkest hours.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.



Baking in The English Kitchen today  . . .  a Flourless Almond, Coconut and Vanilla Cake.  Gluten free and gorgeously delish!

Have a wonderful Sunday.  Don't forget . . .


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And I do too!