Naomi Baggett
Dear Mother, Today, Feb 18 2014, on my birthday I thank you for everything you taught me in life and to let you know how much of your teaching and preaching really sunk in. There are 1000s of things you taught me that made me who I am and if I could remember I?d thank you for each one. Thank you for teaching me southern values and genteel manners, to set a proper dinner table, to starch and iron dress shirts, to sew on buttons, hem dresses and make house slippers out of washrags, to cook chicken and dumplins and bake cakes and homemade chocolate icing, to fry chicken using a brown paper bag, to keep a clean house, to write with nice handwriting, to take pride in my appearance and never go out without makeup on, to make up a bed and do it every morning, setting the example for a good work ethic, to keep my car clean inside and out, to change a tire, check the oil and read a map, mow grass, rake leaves and plant flowers, to always stand up straight, say the blessing before I eat and prayers before I go to sleep, to ?be sweet? when sending me off to school, for buying a clarinet for me, baking a birthday cake every year, for worrying about me when I was out of town, for warming my housecoat and slippers on the furnace before I got up for school on cold mornings, for always saying you were proud of me, for buying books and letting me ride my bike to the library and encouraging me to read, for trusting me to take you up in Ed?s airplane to fly to Grandma?s house, for religiously taking me to the dentist, for the hot breakfasts with Hershey?s cocoa with Pet milk every day before school, for taking me to church (and Sunday school and Bible study and revivals), by showing me you could do anything and that I could too, not to ever use foul language, for all the jobs you had to have to take care of me, for taking me to Grandma?s house (I learned about country living ? from the hen house to the outhouse), for keeping me safe, protected and nourished (even when we got low on food toward the end of the month), for always being there for me, for laughing with me and hugging me, for letting me take risks (flying planes, racing boats, parachuting, learning to shoot a gun) by believing in me and letting me know you never expected more than the best I could do, for teaching me to be honest, to be kind to all people, appreciative of all things and being optimistic when things were bad, for instilling in me a love of travel, reading, gardening, photography, and how to cook good southern food, to always say please and thank you, to wait my turn, to be on time for appointments, for all the phone conversations and always sending me home with left-overs, for bride dolls at Christmas, Monopoly, Scrabble and encyclopedias, for always believing in me and telling me I could accomplish anything I set my mind to, for teaching me to be independent and how to take care of myself, and for being my best friend and confidante. You have been the best mother anyone could ever hope for and I feel blessed that I had you with me for all these years. You are also missed and loved by the many friends you had including your friends at The Meadows. I couldn?t believe how many Christmas cards and birthday cards you would get. You were so strong, smart, beautiful, loving, caring, responsible, dedicated, inventive, talented, and you never gave up. You were an independent woman at a time when independent women like you were rare. More than anything else I thank you for being both a mother and a father to me. My father?s is another story to be told. The limited time you were together during 24 years of marriage there was never a cross word. It?s sad that he was incapable of being a husband to you and a father to his children. I grew up without this father and I knew I meant nothing to him. Those scars will never heal. What would I have done without you, Mother? [Posted for Mother?s Day 2016]