Happy Mothers' Day!

I'm reposting this Mothers Day tribute from 2010.
There isn't anything I would change & there is nothing for me to add.

"The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness."
~ Honore' de Balzac

If you are blessed to be a mother, that will always be your highest calling.
Wishing all the Mommies a wonderful,
love-filled day!

I sure wish my Mom were still alive so I could take her a card and gift

and perhaps out to eat someplace special, too.

I deeply regret that I neglected to do that more often.

I don't think I ever got to tell her how much she truly meant to me.

She was a Saint, honest!

She married my Dad, her high school sweetheart, in September of 1936


and remained happily married to him until she died, almost 60 years later.

And I do mean *HAPPILY*, too.

I never once heard them argue.

I never once heard them speak to each other in

anything but the most loving and respectful of tones.

There was always lots of laughter in our house.

My father kissed my mother good-bye every

morning when he left to go to work.

He also sought her out, wherever she was in the house,

so he could kiss her again when he returned home!




She raised 8 kids, on my Dad's steel worker's salary,
to be honest, hardworking, respectful law-biding citizens.

She made sure we polished our shoes every Saturday and
went to Mass every Sunday and attended Sunday school afterwards as well.

We always sat down to a home-cooked meal together after church.
(she put it in the oven before we left)
We always said "Grace" before that meal, too.

She had 16 grandchildren, 22 great-grands &
I can't begin to count the great-great grandchildren!!

She never worked a single day outside the home
but she was the hardest working woman I have ever known.
The washing & the ironing and the cooking was never-ending.


She made the BEST pies & cobblers!

(my sad attempt to duplicate her talents)

We had sour cherry trees on our property and every summer we all
helped to pick the cherries for her baking.
She and her mother, together, canned tomatoes and made grape walnut jam.
I have tried to continue that tradition.
Click here if you'd like to read about it.

She was always sharing little colloquialisms and quotes to teach us life's lessons.

Shortly after her death on Memorial Day in 1995,

(she passed away 7 years after a diagnosis of breast cancer )

my siblings were gathered around the table and

we started recalling all the little things Mom used to repeat to us, day after day.

If we heard them once, we heard them a million times!

We wrote them down that day after the funeral

and my sister typed them out for each of us to have a copy.

Life's Lessons from my Mom

1. IF YOU CAN’T SAY SOMETHING NICE, DON’T SAY ANYTHING AT ALL

2. IF YOU CAN’T DO IT RIGHT, DON’T DO ANYTHING AT ALL

3. TWO WRONGS DON’T MAKE A RIGHT

4. TELL THE TRUTH AND SHAME THE DEVIL

5. PEOPLE SAY A LOT OF THINGS BESIDES THEIR PRAYERS

6. THE RICH GET RICHER AND THE POOR GET KIDS

7. TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE, EVEN IF ONE IS A CABBAGE HEAD

8. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR

9. YOU CAN BE DEAD AND BURIED IN THREE DAYS

10. IF YOU DON’T WANT SOMEONE TO GET YOUR GOAT, DON’T LET THEM KNOW WHERE IT IS TIED

11. BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER, EVEN A MOTHER SKUNK THINKS HER BABY IS BEAUTIFUL

12. A WILLFUL WASTE IS A WILLFUL WANT

13. PRETTY IS AS PRETTY DOES

14. MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL

15. YOU CAN CATCH MORE FLIES WITH HONEY THAN VINEGAR

16. I DON’T KNOW IF I’M COMING OR GOING

17. I DON’T KNOW WHETHER TO WIND MY WATCH OR GO TO THE BATHROOM

18. OH LORD, YOU MADE THE DAY TOO LONG (my favorite!)

19. LORD, GIVE ME STRENGTH

20. YOU’LL WEAR OUT YOUR WELCOME

21. YOU’LL CUT OFF YOUR NOSE TO SPITE YOUR FACE

22. DON’T LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG

23. THERE’S NONE SO DUMB AS THEM THAT WANT TO BE

24. IF IT WAS A SNAKE IT WOULD HAVE BIT YOU

25. CHEER UP, THINGS COULD BE WORSE

26. BETTER DAYS ARE JUST AROUND THE CORNER

27. NOBODY RUNNING FOR THEIR LIFE WILL SEE THE DIFFERENCE

28. SIX OF ONE AND HALF A DOZEN OF THE OTHER

The scary part is that I find myself repeating her sayings
over & over again to my daughter & my 3 grandchildren.

I'm becoming my Mother...

which would be the most
wonderful transformation ever!!

Thanks for stopping by the Gazebo House today.
I wish you lots of hugs and kisses from your loved ones.

fondly,