A Mother's Day Medley

It's Wednesday so, of course, I am linking up with Terri @ Your Friend From Florida for her Wednesday Medley.

1. Where did your mom grow up?  In a small Pennsylvania town called Cambridge Springs. My grandparents built a home and had a nice sized piece of land in the country. 

2. Tell us about her siblings, if she has/had any. Did you have a favorite aunt or uncle?  Mom has two sisters. They are twins and they act a lot alike, though I'm sure they'd deny it. They have a rather contentious relationship and have from the very beginning. My grandmother told me they could never put them in the same crib or playpen or even lay them side by side as babies because they'd scratch and hit each other. 

Even now they go through periods of not speaking to each other and often one or the other calls my mom just to rant about the other. When they come to visit and stay with her, Mom (and her husband) come close to losing their minds before the visit is over. However, nothing pulls them together faster than someone else saying anything about one of them. Then they are a united front. 

I was close to both of them when I was growing up. They are only 14 years older than me. These days one is in Arizona and one in Florida so we don't actually see them often...once every couple of years or so...and that's okay with me because both are where they are because they jumped into less than wise marriages (a 2nd for one and the 3rd for the other) and they are extremely bitter about their lives.

3. What is ONE of your favorite memories you can share with us of your mom?  My favorite memories of her are of her being a grandmother to my kids. She was a much better grandmother than she was a mother. She spent time with my kids that she never spent with me. But if I have to choose a good memory of us together, it would be of going to musicals with her. She took me to my first one when I was in elementary school and I was hooked. We went to many and I even invited her to come to my college a few times to see touring companies that visited.

4. Please share a picture or two of your mom with us.

This is from a couple of years ago when I took Mom to ride the Blue Streak, once the biggest,

fastest roller coaster from New York to Chicago. My grandmother forbid her to ride it, though

she later allowed my aunts and me to ride it...after getting lectures not to stand up on the ride.

Mom tried to ride it several times as an adult but something always prevented her from it.

Her final try, she had the tickets in her hand and the ride broke down! She always said it was

her mom, still winning the debate. So I took her for her 72nd birthday. Nana didn't win that day.

Mom got her ride and was thrilled, but also said she didn't ever need to ride it again. HA!

Mom and I dancing the mother/child dance at my daughter's wedding.

(That's one of her sisters in the background.)

Mom with great-grandson, Colton at his birthday party.

5. Let's not leave out the grandmothers. Share what you will.  I've talked a lot about my grandmother, who I called Nana, here on the blog so I'm not going to go on about her again. If you want to read about her, you can go here.

6. Do you have any special plans for Mother's Day?  Not this year. I will be working. I will get my mom something and my daughter will probably do something for me. I will be lucky to get a call from my son at the end of the day. He isn't much for marking birthdays or holidays.