A List A Mile Long

TO DO LIST---FEBRUARY 19, 2013

1. Try to find a different profile photo.  I've added a lot few wrinkles since the last one was taken.
2. Photoshop the recent one Graycie took...or spring for a face lift.
3. Do price comparisons on face lift costs.
4. Check want-ads for J-O-B to pay for face lift.
5. Learn to walk on hands to try and reverse gravity.
6. Go to Dollar Tree for first aid kit.
7.  While still in car, apply bandages from first aid kit to stop the bleeding and hide the bruises.
8. Have a brain fart while driving home.
9.  Use car visor mirror to strategically stick band aids (from Dollar Tree first aid kit) to temples and behind the ears for DIY face lift.
10. Sigh loudly and accept the fact this is my mother's face looking back at me from the mirror.
11. Ask myself why would I want to change a thing?
12. Throw this list away and start a new one.

REVISED "TAKE TIME TO REMEMBER" TO DO LIST---FEBRUARY 19, 2012

1. Remember Helen always wore a slip under her dresses...and not just the white, summer ones.
2. Remember how she didn't try to hide her tears or her joy.  She cried when I cried and laughed when I laughed.
3. Remember her red nail polish was always on or off, but never chipped.
4. Remember her short pencil when there were more days in the month than money in the bank.
5. Remember how every child, regardless of age, thought they were her favorite...including me.
6. Remember her hospitality when guests were in her home...regardless of their circumstances or why they were there.
7. Remember how she treated everyone as her equal...no better than her, but more importantly, not inferior either.
8. Remember how daily she proved class and good taste cannot be bought or sold. It's something one is born with.  She just knew her perfume should never enter a room before she did, but linger a moment or two after she had left.
9. Remember how she didn't wait for someone to tell her she could...she just did.
10. Remember when she forgave, she forgot.  She didn't leave behind a single burned bridge or singed enemy.
11. Remember her size 6 shoes that seemed so tiny at the time, but were so big to try and fill afterwards.
12. Remember her smile.  Even at the end.

Helen Louise Sadler Callahan

Today is my mother's birthday. I'd say how old she would have been, but there's some things a lady never owns up to...her age being one of them.  I will say she left us for the better world a'waitin' right about 15 years ago. That September morning is still as fresh in my memory as if it were yesterday. The pain isn't as sharp, but the beautiful memories of her are.  I carry them around in my heart and from time to time, take them out to share with the world.  Today is one of those days.

There isn't a day that goes by I don't achingly miss her, but thank goodness, I only have to look in the mirror to remember what she looked like.  As for her character, I can only hope to be half the woman or a tenth of the lady she was.

P.S. You're allowed to smile or laugh with this post. That's the way Mother would have liked it...trust me.