Monday Memories: My Mom

Hey, y'all! Monday may bring us back to work, but it also brings us one of my favorite memes and it's all about sharing memories! Y'all know how much I appreciate memories so you can imagine how excited I was to hear of a meme all about writing our memories! I am a full week behind but am having trouble with last week's prompt: The Most Influential Person.

Nevertheless, I'm moving forward with this week's prompt and will continue struggling with working on the last one.

Want to join in? Just click the button and link up to Memory Monday at Retired, Not Tired!

This week's prompt is: My Mom


Mother was the youngest of two daughters born to the BEST grandparents IN THE WORLD. She was an athlete (basketball), a cheerleader, extremely social and a dare devil. As the stories go, all someone had to do was utter the words, "I dare you.." and Mother would take up the challenge.  

This is one of my favorite pictures of Mother. LOVE the bare feet. 

Mother and her sister, my Aunt Betty (whom you won't see with bare feet). That's the house my Granddaddy grew up in in the background. 

Aunt Betty, Granddaddy, Mother, Grandmother. Please notice Mother's feet. 

Aunt Betty and Mother with Granddaddy at Lake Lure. Where I'm taking the lovelies for a vacay after Christmas this year. 

Mother is third from the left. 

I think this is her senior picture. 

My mom, whom I call Mother, is a very smart and talented person. There are few things that she cannot do or figure out how to do. She is a seamstress extraordinaire who made most of her clothes while growing up. She not only designed but made her own wedding gown and her bridesmaids' dresses. She also made a pattern and the wedding gown of my oldest daughter from a picture my daughter drew. Over the years, Mother taught herself how to knit, smock and quilt. She made all my clothes when I was a girl and even into my teenage years when I was no longer appreciative of homemade clothing.

She always let me decorate the Christmas tree and put all red lights on it because red was my favorite color. And yes, I was a spoiled brat. Christmas was BIG in our family. 

A new coat for Christmas

She made that dress. 

And this one. AND, I totally remember that one and that Christmas. 

Here's Mother in her wedding gown. 

She quit college after her sophomore year to marry my dad and had me two years later. When I was in high school, Mother went back to college and was finishing her master's degree in School Psychology when I was in college. She worked as a school psychologist for over 30 years. And, as with everything else, she was really good at it. 

That's me with Mother and her grandfather, Papa Campbell. 

She was always helpful with the lovelies as they were growing up in a plethora of ways. She has always done many things for many people.

The problem lies in the fact that Mother is a control freak. The epitome of a control freak. Look up control freak in the dictionary, and there she is. And this is where all the tension comes into play. BIG tension. BIG. Huge. Ginormous. She is also very good at holding grudges and handing out unsolicited advice. And, to be honest, I'm still uncertain as to how she ended up with those traits.    

I won't dwell on these things. No one is perfect. It took me a lot of years to make sure that I am not following in the negative parts of those footsteps. And the good outweighed the negative by MILES and MILES. 

I think the main problem I've always had is that she doted on me and I can't stand to be doted on. Go figure. LOL

I'm sure I'll keep adding on to this one as more and more stories and memories pop into this old brain of mine.