Leah Anderson Smith – February 3,
1928 – January 4, 2009
Happy Birthday Mom! Today, you would
have been 85. I think about you everyday. I suppose that should be
no surprise. You taught me to do so many things that I can't help
but think of you when I am doing them.
Sewing, which I do a lot...makes me
think of you. I remember sitting on the black wood chairs in Romeo
in front of the sewing machine. I remember that I wanted to learn to
make doll clothes for my doll. I thought sewing little things
would be easier than sewing big things! Funny how a young brain
works... Took you a long time to convince me that sewing small things
were much more difficult than larger things because they are so
small. So we started with a doll blanket for my doll. A nice square
piece of left over fabric would work for this job!
Cooking makes me think of you. I still
make many of your recipes, just like you did...dumping a little of
this in and a little of that in...I don't remember if you even owned
measuring spoons when I was a kid...... I will never forget that
first grilled cheese sandwich you let me make for myself. It was by
far the best grilled cheese sandwich I ever tasted! And your trick
for fixing a slightly over done grilled cheese sandwich....I have
used it many time too...you just scape the burnt part off with a
butter knife and it is a good as new!
Doing dishes... everyday when I do
dishes, I think of you. I remember standing on a small stool in
front of the sink and barely able to reach into the dish pan to wash
dishes... (or play in the water.) At that time I was too young to
realize it was work! It is one of my first memories of me and
you....Pam and Sue went to school and I had to stay home because I
was not old enough to go yet. You let me do dishes after lunch. It
took me a long time but it sure was fun. It became my daily chore. I
usually needed a change of clothes by the time I was done because my
whole shirt would be wet. You know what, Mom? I am still like that
today. Rarely does a day go by that I don't splash water down the
front of me when I am doing dishes even though I have a new deep
sink. When I do, I hear you..”Jan, be careful, you're getting
water all over!” And I remember when I was a few years older and
now I had to do dishes and it didn't seem like too much fun. There
was always something else I would rather do. Remember it? All three big girls standing
in front of the sink, arguing over who had to do what!
“I don't want to dry!”
“You washed last night!”
“Stop splashing me!”
“The washer has to rinse too!”
“ MOM!”
I am sure that you remember the time
well! Today, washing dishes has become a bit of therapy. Gives you
time to remember, time to think, warms your hands on a cold day and
it warms your heart. When “the sisters” are all together, we all
join in. No yelling, mostly laughter and fond memories.. No fighting
over who gets to wash or dry anymore. It has come around full
circle!
Every time, I open a jar of canned
tomatoes. I remember the year that you helped me learn to can. We had
moved into the house on South Almont Ave...our cracker box house. It
was all we could do to afford the mortgage much less buy food so I
needed a plan B. Plan B was the need to learn how to grow food and
preserve it so we had something to eat in the dead of winter. I
helped our neighbor, Lyle, with his garden. By mid summer I realized
that we would have a bumper crop and I was going to be very busy! I
bartered and traded vegetables for fruit and you taught me to preserve
what was left. You came and spent at least one afternoon a week with
me showing me how to preserve everything. We bought a small used freezer
and what did not go in jars, went in the freezer.
We think of you every time we sing
Happy Birthday. You would beg Dad to sing the birthday song nicely
and that was Dad's and our cue to sing it even more off key. And it
warmed my heart on your 80th birthday when you
proudly sang it with us off key and in front of all your friends! And just so you now, our method of singing has caught on in other Smith families too! So when you hear a loud ruckus you know we are just singing Happy Birthday to you!
We think of you every time we go
camping as each one of us tries our best to poke the fire just like
you did. When the fire died down camping, you were always able to
get one of us to get it going again. Once we had our fireplace in
Romeo, I do not remember too many winter days that we did not have a
fire in it. You were always able to get Dad or one of us to light
one. In the years that you spent Sunday afternoons at Sharon and Micheal's, in the winter, Michael would start a fire for her. You did not start them but you sure enjoyed them!
So today Mom, I am thinking of you
again on what would have been your 85th Birthday.
So her goes in my best electronic off key birthday song.....
HaPPy biRThdaY 2 U, haPPy birTHDay to YOU, HapPY BirtHdaY, Dear MoM!
hapPY BiRtHdAy 2 YOU!
Happy Birthday!
Love, Jan
