The Lady of the House located at the high end of Fourth Street in Shannon doesn’t live there anymore. She did, for most of her last 40 years. She kept house, subscribed to and read the The Atlanta Constitution and Rome News-Tribune for 50 years, along with assorted novels, and entertained a long-distance crush on Clark Gable. The Weather Channel and Braves games were her TV destinations. She enjoyed daily walks until she fell and was injured to bring on early stages of dementia, which worsened as years went by to be finally identified as Alzheimer’s. The Lady of the House watched over two sons through high school, keeping them in bats, balls and gloves and loud shirts and jeans. She volunteered at the hospital as a Gray Lady and attended church. She clipped and saved newspaper articles about family, stuffing the clips in assorted books, including a thick and worn Bible, to be discovered after she passed away. She savored retirement after a long career at the mill, first Brighton, then Burlington and, finally, Klopman, where labor was hard but easier than on the Alabama farm where she grew up. The music in her life was a knocking at the door which she joyfully answered to greet sons and families come home or neighbors come to chat. She continued to follow the high school teams although her sons had long-since left home. She once raised the ire of next-door neighbors, with whom she rode to a high school football game, by sitting on the side of a team coached by a son’s former college roomie, who had often come home with him to eat her biscuits. He made the request; she accepted. A week before she died and given, stunningly, brief lucidity, said, “My two boys . . . I love you and I’m proud of you.” Ironically, it was the only time her sons visited on the same day. These are random thoughts of my late mom on this Mother’s Day weekend. She was a supportive, generous, loving and special lady and, although she passed away almost 13 years ago, I miss her still.
Posted on: Sat, 10 May 2014 13:53:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015