M

Mothers

I used to call Carlene "Mother" but my brother and I started calling her by her first name as a joke when I was 18, he 15.  It stuck.  I don't think she minds, especially now that we are 68 and 91.

From the start, she's been as much friend as mother--always listening to me for hours while she cooked and sewed and drove the car from place to place.  She never seemed impatient or preoccupied as I told her every detail of my life in those childhood days; she still never does.  Carlene has an extraordinary talent for listening.

Go to a party with her and she'll know everyone's name, their spouses, their birthdays, their stories, and even the names of their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  Her memory is incredible!

She loves it when people say, "Ninety one!??  Impossible!"--which they do every time she tells them her age.  I just stand back and listen as she tells them her "secrets"--gratitude and good organic food growing up on a farm and eating an orange every day.

Mary Carlene Ogletree Harris, born August 24, 1925, is one classy lady!

October in Georgia

With her friend, Mary, Marlene, and Margaret
(Three Ms!) 

At her church, October

Wrapping her hair for the night--in toilet paper!
My house, February
She'll love that I posted this picture, I'm sure! 

Helping Elena and Veronica put together my sewing table

With Joy in Castroville, February

“My mother... she is beautiful, softened at the edges and tempered with a spine of steel. I want to grow old and be like her.”
― Jodi Picoult

“When your mother asks, "Do you want a piece of advice?" it's a mere formality. It doesn't matter if you answer yes or no. You're going to get it anyway.”
― Erma Bombeck

“Beauty is not who you are on the outside, it is the wisdom and time you gave away to save another struggling soul like you.”
― Shannon L. Alder