How are you like your mother? Unlike her? – Physically, Mama and I are very much alike. She was overweight all her life until her late 60s. I’m getting to that age and I THINK I’ve finally begun to get serious about losing weight. Mama lost over 80 pounds when she finally got serious, and I’d like to lose at least that much.
Mama, in 1980, before she lost the weight.
Mama, in 1992, after she lost all that weight.
Mama was always content to stay at home and be a nice mommy, while I was never really happy staying at home. I worked partially because we liked having the extra income, but mostly because I was happy to be doing something other than cleaning house and watching kids. We both enjoyed volunteer work, though. Mama was always doing something at the church, and I volunteered with many of the programs available in the Air Force. We both loved to read, and Mama was a tireless reader-out-loud. When I was sewing or something, if she was around, she would read a book to me – usually whatever I was reading. I learned the art from her, and I still love to read out loud, as well as to listen to books on tape. Mama loved to sing and could remember many, many songs. I also loved to sing and even took a Bachelor’s degree in Music, but I never used it, except for my own enjoyment. I still can remember the words to many songs, and where some people have a “photographic” memory, I have a “phonographic” memory. In college, I never took notes in class because I found I could remember what the professor said in his lectures better if I wasn’t concentrating on writing it down.
How are you like your father? Unlike him? – Papa was an engineer, and I have the same kind of organized, technical brain. By the time women could enter the field of engineering, I was too old to deal with all the higher level math, but I became a CPA and did accounting. Also, Papa loved to fish, and so did I.
Abbie and the fish!
Papa, Billy and the Fish.
What was most important to your parents? – The most important thing to them was their love for each other (although they were never demonstrative), and their love for their family. The second most important thing to them was their church and their relationship with God. They passed their love of God and the church on to me, and I thank them for it.
An Aging Liberal Hippy from the Left Coast 