You Can't Take It With You!

We took everything out of the spare room and prepared it for mom. Boy, that room has been home to a lot of people since we have had the house and there were a lot that came after mom. That room even at one time was made into Bob’s bar, and what a lot of stories I could tell about that. What a nice little room it is! However I always felt it was not that nice to my mother. She wanted to be in her home with my brother, but she could not. She had reached the point where she needed more care and help than he could give her. I tried to make it as comfortable and nice for her as I possibly could. She did not bring much with her. She brought her clothes, her jewelry, her bathroom needs, and her chair! Since she was often times cold, we put her chair in front of the heater. I can still see her sitting there now. She had a little shawl sister Barb had crocheted for her and that was placed over her knees. A lot of the time she placed her elbows on the rockers arms and let her head rest on the palms of her hand. She looked at television on occasion, but said she could not hear it or that it was silly. She appeared to be in deep thought most of the time and I suspect she was reviewing her life and enjoying her memories. Oft times she would call my name to have me come in and listen to something she remembered, or as she would say, “Babe, I was just thinking……! There were wonderful times when I would sit on the floor and listen to her stories. The best one was about her trip across the Oregon Trail. She also talked about my three half sisters and her life with her first husband. She told of how she walked miles to town as a young girl and it took all day to get there and back. Sometimes she got to ride horse back into town or to the neighbors. On occasion, with the parents, they took the horse and buggy. One story that always confused me was the one she told, when she was married to my dad, of my dad packing her and the kids up and taking her someplace to camp while he was on a business trip. Camping with all of us kids was supposed to be her vacation. I always wondered what the heck he was doing during that time. At one point in their lives they were building a home. It was called homesteading, and while it was being built they lived in a tent. While they were living in the tent, my sister Arvilla was born. My sister Barbra, was the first to be born in a hospital. Mom had a midwife. One story she tells is when one ( I don’t recall which) child was born, it had a rather pointed head. The black lady in attendance took the babies head in hand and just reshaped it. Did you know babies heads were that pliable? I did not! Talk about pioneer women, my mom sure was one. From her rocking chair she relived her life and I am so lucky that I got to share it with her. My only mistake was not writing it all down like I should have and this would have been a much longer story. I have told you before about my brother not wanting to share anything and his obsession with possessions. He never got rid of anything and he was definitely a pack rat. His son had a nightmarish experience after he was gone, disposing of all the things he had saved and stored in his little mobile home. In a way I am glad my nephew received a lot of my moms things that we girls had wanted because the remainder of what she had were sold in a garage sale that we did not know about until after it was held. Brother had gotten mixed up with this Hispanic woman and she took him for a lot of things. She got him to buy her a car, and a diamond ring, and talked him into having the garage sale. She even sold my mom’s button box, which I would have stole for. Everything that the nephew did not get, went at the garage sale. She had to be some kind of evil miracle worker to get him to relinquish these things. We could never get him to have a sale or even throw away any of his garbage. No way! Well, when mom passed, brother came for the chair! HA! “I want mom’s chair,” he said! “It goes to Dan when I am gone.” Take a guess as to what I said! O.K. I will tell you. “Before I let you take that chair out of this house, I will take an axe and chop it into a million pieces. If you do not believe me…try me!” To my surprise he calmly said, “Well I will let you have it for a while, but I want it back to give to my son.” Do you know what? Only my sister Barbra and I are still left and I have the chair. Which one of you boys of mine want it? You better decide soon. I might just take it with me!