A Mom Memory
Near my father's birthday, I posted a dad memory. Now for a mom memory.
I'm sure by having me so late, my brothers may have different memories of the same person because when I look back, I can see distinct changes at certain stages of her life.
My mom was born in the 1920's, which for many of my friends, that's about the same age as their grandparents. I love the fact that she got a BS degree in the 1940s when not a lot of women went to college in general. She majored in Pharmacy, as did her twin. And something little known by most of my family, I think, is she had an older brother who studied medicine but died during college. I understand he was hit by a vehicle while getting off a bus.
Pharmacy wasn't her choice, she would have preferred business or accounting*. But she had to have been good in the sciences. How many years later, as she looked over my shoulder while I was writing up a high school chem lab experiment she said, "I bet that turned blue and clear." I was stunned, "How did you know?" "That's just what happens when you mix blah with blah and add heat." She never before really expressed interest in any of my homework, so I was rather surprised with that. Heck, she still remembered the periodic table and families of elements.
*-This definitely came out in her gardening style, "I will only grow it if I can get dividends." This meant, whatever she grew, it had to be edible.
I really like looking back because I can really appreciate it now with my own whee one. My mom stayed home with me until I started grade school. Then she went back to work part-time. Being an immigrant, she didn't continue pharmacy because it required further classes for certifications in the US and she was just interested in extra income. Besides, pharmacy wasn't her choice, it was my grandmother's.
I remember 2 books she referenced regularly for cooking, one a Filipino cookbook and the other, a spiral-bound notebook with recipes she had either come up with or doctored along the way. I really want that notebook...if I can ever find it. We made a lot of puff pastry treats and puff pastry is such a lost art today, even Alton Brown suggests to go out and buy the dough instead of doing it from scratch. Ah, but that was something I looked forward to coming home from school, pulling the dough out from the fridge, folding in ice water and butter, kneeding and rolling, then back in the fridge. I guess it's not really practical for my current lifestyle, but some day again.
She was decent at sewing. Really. I just absolutely hated the fabric she purchased. Blah. That was the height of the "polyester 70s era" I guess. Her hand stitching was amazing. I wasn't able to pick up her hand stitching skills and well, I can sew much better now that I have a $400 electronic machine. :)
And she could crochet like mad, she'd have thread by spools and whip out doilies and curtains like crazy. I was too daunted to pick up crochet although she did show me techniques and described her favorite patterns like "popcorn." But when she showed me how to knit when I was 5, I decided I'd take on something different (I felt too daunted by her crocheting skills).
When I was between 4 through 7, I absolutely loved Japanese monster shows like "Godzilla" and "Giant Robot." And it was my mom who first influenced me to draw, she drew "Gamaron" for me, the flying giant turtle. Yes, this from a person who HATES sci-fi and most fiction (she did make an exception for, "Dr Zhivago"). I held on to that drawing for at least a year and at least once, I drew series of images of giant hares and Gamerons. I guess you can get that when you combine fairy tales with old Japanese movies.
She did the homemade cake thing for many birthdays and even did those cheesy birthday games, like seeing who could dump the most pennies in a sombrero by walking with a penny in-between your knees down a 5 foot line.
Those days slowly ended when she got me a microscope (3rd grade) and then a chemistry kit (4th grade). The arts and crafts snuck back in occassionally, but rarely. But that was also about the time my dad was forced into early retirement, they became a grandparents for the first time and she started to work full-time. Definitely, the start of a different stage of her life.
It's sometimes difficult now, to remember her at that stage and to see her at her current stage. It can be hard to believe they're the same person. She even asked me recently how I learned to knit.
So I hope I can pass on meaningful memories to my whee one as well. And I can only hope that Jana has more patience than I do whenever it's time for me to be in the forgetting stage.
I'm sure by having me so late, my brothers may have different memories of the same person because when I look back, I can see distinct changes at certain stages of her life.
My mom was born in the 1920's, which for many of my friends, that's about the same age as their grandparents. I love the fact that she got a BS degree in the 1940s when not a lot of women went to college in general. She majored in Pharmacy, as did her twin. And something little known by most of my family, I think, is she had an older brother who studied medicine but died during college. I understand he was hit by a vehicle while getting off a bus.
Pharmacy wasn't her choice, she would have preferred business or accounting*. But she had to have been good in the sciences. How many years later, as she looked over my shoulder while I was writing up a high school chem lab experiment she said, "I bet that turned blue and clear." I was stunned, "How did you know?" "That's just what happens when you mix blah with blah and add heat." She never before really expressed interest in any of my homework, so I was rather surprised with that. Heck, she still remembered the periodic table and families of elements.
*-This definitely came out in her gardening style, "I will only grow it if I can get dividends." This meant, whatever she grew, it had to be edible.
I really like looking back because I can really appreciate it now with my own whee one. My mom stayed home with me until I started grade school. Then she went back to work part-time. Being an immigrant, she didn't continue pharmacy because it required further classes for certifications in the US and she was just interested in extra income. Besides, pharmacy wasn't her choice, it was my grandmother's.
I remember 2 books she referenced regularly for cooking, one a Filipino cookbook and the other, a spiral-bound notebook with recipes she had either come up with or doctored along the way. I really want that notebook...if I can ever find it. We made a lot of puff pastry treats and puff pastry is such a lost art today, even Alton Brown suggests to go out and buy the dough instead of doing it from scratch. Ah, but that was something I looked forward to coming home from school, pulling the dough out from the fridge, folding in ice water and butter, kneeding and rolling, then back in the fridge. I guess it's not really practical for my current lifestyle, but some day again.
She was decent at sewing. Really. I just absolutely hated the fabric she purchased. Blah. That was the height of the "polyester 70s era" I guess. Her hand stitching was amazing. I wasn't able to pick up her hand stitching skills and well, I can sew much better now that I have a $400 electronic machine. :)
And she could crochet like mad, she'd have thread by spools and whip out doilies and curtains like crazy. I was too daunted to pick up crochet although she did show me techniques and described her favorite patterns like "popcorn." But when she showed me how to knit when I was 5, I decided I'd take on something different (I felt too daunted by her crocheting skills).
When I was between 4 through 7, I absolutely loved Japanese monster shows like "Godzilla" and "Giant Robot." And it was my mom who first influenced me to draw, she drew "Gamaron" for me, the flying giant turtle. Yes, this from a person who HATES sci-fi and most fiction (she did make an exception for, "Dr Zhivago"). I held on to that drawing for at least a year and at least once, I drew series of images of giant hares and Gamerons. I guess you can get that when you combine fairy tales with old Japanese movies.
She did the homemade cake thing for many birthdays and even did those cheesy birthday games, like seeing who could dump the most pennies in a sombrero by walking with a penny in-between your knees down a 5 foot line.
Those days slowly ended when she got me a microscope (3rd grade) and then a chemistry kit (4th grade). The arts and crafts snuck back in occassionally, but rarely. But that was also about the time my dad was forced into early retirement, they became a grandparents for the first time and she started to work full-time. Definitely, the start of a different stage of her life.
It's sometimes difficult now, to remember her at that stage and to see her at her current stage. It can be hard to believe they're the same person. She even asked me recently how I learned to knit.
So I hope I can pass on meaningful memories to my whee one as well. And I can only hope that Jana has more patience than I do whenever it's time for me to be in the forgetting stage.