I know that this is supposed to be a perfume blog, but at times it also serves the writer as a cathartic release and topics can sometimes veer away from the perfumed-centric. This past Friday, my mother passed away.  It was not unexpected as she has been battling congestive heart failure and her health rapidly deteriorated in the past few months.  She was ready to go and was fully prepared and looking forward to the end as life it was becoming increasingly exhausting.  At 87, she lived a good life.  Of course, on such occasions, memories come flooding back.  And it’s not always the big things in life that come to front, but instead those “slice of life” memories that will always live on.  So here are just a few random thoughts and memories that make me smile:

• Mom ironing while watching “Search for Tomorrow”
• Mom’s cooking I loved:   beef tongue (I can still hear the sizzle of the pressure cooker), her Christmas cookies (especially the Spritzes) and Swedish meatballs
• Mom’s cooking I hated:  lutefisk (the Scandinavian folks know what I am talking about), salmon souffle and chicken soup with dumplings
• Getting yelled at not to walk on the kitchen floor as she just got done stripping and waxing it
• Mom sitting under the Oster dryer at the kitchen table
• Watching her get ready to go out…with clouds of Aqua Net wafting from the bathroom down the hallway
• As a teenager, coming home late to find her sitting on the living room floor playing solitaire.  The excuse was that she couldn’t sleep.  She was just a Mom wanting to make sure her son got home OK.
• Getting my mouth washed out with soap on several occasions due to my smart mouth
• Giving me a quarter to buy warm and fresh treats from the Hostess factory next to our church
• Her driving me back from weekly confirmation class and listening to WCCO radio
• Mom making breakfast with the radio on and the daily ad…”Northwest Orient…airlines”
• Being under 5 and waiting for her in the lobby of the hospital while she completed her candy striping duties.  And afterwards getting a special treat of a chocolate milkshake at the hospital diner.
• Waking up from getting my tonsils out to find her stroking my head and crying
• Singing “It’s time to get up, it’s time to get up, it’s time to get up this morning…Rise and Shine” to get me out of bed
• Helping her package up her Avon orders on the ping-pong table
• Letting me decorate my bedroom with Snoopy decor
• 

  Liondy

  Saving my favorite toy, Liondy, and giving it to me as an adult (I still have him!)

I was adopted at the age of a little over one month,  and throughout my life I have been asked by many if I want to find my real mother.  My answer has always been that I have no interest.  I have a mother…a real mother.  And as she always said to me….”your special because we chose you to be ours.”  I’m glad they did.  I love you Mom.

The following is a link to my mother’s obituary in the Fargo Forum.