My Mother talks about her Father

"I used to like helping Daddy in the fields," she said. We were raking leaves in her backyard. We are visiting to spend Thansgiving with her and my stepfather. Thanksgiving has always been an important holiday to my mother.

"What did you do," I asked her.

"Oh, shuck corn. Pull weeds. Whatever he told me to do. I just liked being with him."



She told me a story, once, about planting beans with him--how they had had to do this at night and been careful about how they put the beans in the ground.



"Was he funny like you?" I asked her.

"Yes, he had a sense of humor. He liked to tell stories. But I don't know how funny I am."

"You're funny, Mom."



"Used to be, maybe," she said. "Before I got sick. That changes you."

She was talking about health problems she's had since she retired, the most serious of them having been the brain tumor 15 years ago. But she's indomitable. Never let it get her down. For long anyhow.



"You're still funny, Mom."

These photos were all from working in the backyard on Saturday.

John, Sunday, November 19, 2006