My mother passed away January 29, 2010. Since she hated to tell her age, I won’t tell it either. Let’s just say that she lived longer than the average person, but not as long as her father who made it to 100.

Born during the Roaring Twenties, Momma was a child of the Great Depression and a young woman during World War II. She, like so many other women of that era, went to war by working in factories and doing jobs that, previously, only men did. She helped assemble tank cannon shells at a munitions plant and later learned to be a telephone operator, a job which she loved.

When she and my father, a D-Day veteran, married, she assumed the role of wife and mother and somehow survived the misadventures of her 3 rambunctious kids. My older brother and I alone were probably responsible for every gray hair in her head. She excelled in what were then called the domestic arts. Her cooking could rival any chef, and her quilting, crocheting, and needlepoint were fine enough to be sold in stores.

Country, gospel, and early rock and roll music by Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, created the musical background of her life. From her childhood of singing blended harmony gospel music on the porch after dinner each evening to the foot-tapping, earthy music of Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams Jr., and Toby Keith, she loved it all. Along with music, she adored railroads and trains because her father had been a career railroad man. She never passed up a chance to ride on a train.

After my brothers and I married and left home, she grew interested in family history and genealogy. Over the next two decades, she published The Ainsworth Trading Post, a genealogy newsletter, and she compiled massive volumes of genealogy on her Ainsworth, Eubanks, and Shows family lines and authored Cemeteries of Franklin Parish: Private, Public, and Abandoned. All her books are in genealogy collections across the country including the Mormon Library in Salt Lake City and the New York City Public Library.

When my father passed away, I gave my mother a computer and Internet access. Eagerly, she embraced this new way of communication and research. She was never afraid to try something new and loved everything about this new electronic age.

My mother believed strongly in never telling her age and in never appearing in public without her hair fixed and her lipstick on. We all used to laugh about her vanity, and she’d laugh too. She was a hoot in so many ways, and we have so many funny stories the family can share when we’re together.

She was loved by not just her children but by all my cousins and their children too. She was the favorite aunt. And she loved all of us too. Her last words for each and every one of us were of that love.

With so many things to interest her, she never tired of life. In 2008, with my help, she completed her latest book Memory Lane: My Sentimental Journey. She was so proud of that book. She told what it was like to have very little in material possessions, but everything in love and family. One might think her childhood during the Great Depression was marked by deprivation, but it wasn’t. It was the happiest time of her life.

She had a strong will to live and keep learning and experiencing new things. If only that had been possible. There’s a huge hole in my life right now. She and I used to talk four or more times each day. I just can’t believe that I’ll never hear her voice again.

Takeaway Truth

Parkinson’s Disease is a scourge on humanity, and it’s an agonizing way to die. If you have money to donate, please consider a donation for Parkinson’s research.

Eleven days ago I posted to Joan Slings Words. Then, nothing but silence. I hit the wall of life and crumpled for a bit. Why? Well, that’s a long story.

Long Story, Not So Short Version

This has been one godawful year. I won’t even go into the stressful event that kicked off the year lest you think we live under a black cloud.

The climax, or so I thought, came in June with our daughter’s orthopedic surgery. That was an ordeal on her, being made helpless and completely dependent on us until she was allowed up on crutches.

July brought complications from her enforced non-mobility in the form of a blood clot in her leg. I learned to love the hospital staff.

August brought the ordeal of watching her struggle to resume her teaching position wherein she fought the pain each day of working without the support of crutches, with only the boot to protect her precious reconstructed foot.

Finally, she was out of the boot and in physical therapy. For almost a month, we had a nearly normal life. She was able to resume driving so I was relieved of chauffeur duty. We were counting the days until she could walk without limping and the pain, still a 7 on a 10 scale, had disappeared.

What Happened

We’ve tried to pin it down when the accident happened, but we don’t know if it was when she lost her balance and lurched onto her right foot with sudden force or whether it was the next day when she was walking outside and stepped in a slight depression in the ground.

The end result was sharp pain. The next few days the pain grew in intensity so we immediately went to her surgeon. The news was devastating. One of the bone grafts in her foot had fractured.

I Confess

For the first time in my life, I could not control my emotions. I broke down and cried in the doctor’s office. She has been through so much, as have I and my husband. I would prefer all this physical agony be mine. I could bear it better than having it happen to her.

Prayers Needed

So, she’s back in the boot. Her school district granted her an exception to teach on crutches. She’s going to try to work despite the pain, now a full blown 11 on a 10 scale! In three weeks, she gets another X-ray. We’re praying of course that the bone graft will have begun to heal again with new bone growing into and around it.

Short Version

Sometimes life sucks so bad that you have to withdraw, curl into a fetal position, and weep until you feel you can face life again.

Takeaway Truth

It’s like that old Scots proverb: “I’ll lay me down and bleed a while, and then I’ll fight again.”

Resource for Parents

ShopWiki.com has changed the way I shop online, and it can change you from a slow Net shopper, stuck clicking one page after another in search of the stores you want, to a savvy Net veteran. Let them find the stores that cater to moms and dads in search of everything from crib mobiles to changing tables.

Usually, online searches show you the stores that have paid to have their ads front and center, but ShopWiki gives you all the stores. More stores means you have the ability find anything you want at the price you probably prefer to pay. If that were a math formula, it would be More Stores = More Products. Or maybe, it’s More Products + Better Deals = More Savings for you. I’m not a math whiz, but I am a shopping whiz.

But Wait, There’s More

As if it wasn’t enough to give you a huge directory of stores, this website also gives you critical information to help you make good buying decisions. There’s a treasury of articles and stories from other moms and dads to help you through the process of becoming parents and being good parents during a toddler’s formative years. Now, that’s the kind of information you need.

Takeaway Truth

Parents have so many decisions to make that it’s nice to find a resource to help with the decision making process.

Somehow the smell of cinnamon and winter just seem to go together.

Here’s a winter dessert that combines the best of summer – peaches – with the most appealing scent of cinnamon. It’s easy, inexpensive, and delicious. Plus, it’s the kind of cooking that you can involve spouse and kids in too. (I call this recipe a deadline dessert. It’s something easy I can whip up when I’m on deadline but the family wants dessert.)

Holiday Cinnamon Peaches

1 large can of sliced peaches (the kind in heavy syrup tastes best but you can go skinny if you wish). Scoop about 1/4 cup of syrup into a measuring cup.

Place rest of peaches and juice in saucepan over medium heat.

Dissolve 1-2 tablespoons of cornstarch in 1-2 tablespoons of water. Stir until no lumps are left. Add this to reserved syrup. Stir well.

Add the cornstarch mixture to the peaches. Heat and stir until peaches come to bubbling boil.

Serve in bowls and sprinkle liberally with ground cinnamon. The aroma will be mouth-watering and the taste is like a cobbler without the crust.

If you make it, take a picture of everyone helping. I’ll tell you what to do with this picture later.

Takeaway Truth

Memories involving food seem to last a lifetime.