Lessons Mother Taught Me

Mother and Me

It’s January 29th and that means just one thing to me: Mother’s birthday. She was born in 1921 and lived to the fine age of eighty-eight.

We were fortunate to have an extremely close relationship and I was thinking this morning of all the treasured sayings and passions that she passed on to me. Here are a few:

# Love of words, reading, writing,  rhyming, poetry

# Rudyard Kipling’s If

# Never forget how hard women had to fight for their rights so battle on.

# Passion for nature: trees, woodlands, dogs, horses, the sea, the moon, perennial flowers, especially carpets of snowdrops and gorse;

# The importance of birthdays

# Love of sport, particularly tennis, ‘proficiency at tennis is a passport to making friends, having fun, meeting new people.’

# The importance of saying ‘thank you’

# Do not be a litter lout

# Love is elastic 

# Gather ye rosebuds while ye may

# The deliciousness of freshly-picked fruit and vegetables

# Be gentle when making sponge cakes

# Remember that every place has something to offer and you have something to offer every place 

# The importance of nurturing relationships

# Change out of wet shoes and socks

# Work hard but not too hard. Remember about the horses in the French Revolution that worked for 10 days without a break and dropped dead.

# Better a dinner of herbs and peace therewith than roast ox and contention

# Don’t be an impossible person

#Be gracious in defeat

# A little help is worth a lot of pity

# The importance of honesty

# Chin Up

# The generation gap is only a cod

# Never forget how to smile!

# And there are rainbows

Happy Birthday, Mother! The snowdrops are out for you, as always.  

jx