My mom Esther was a woman filled with love for God, and her family and friends. There are so many good memories, of my mom and our family it is hard to choose just a few. There were numerous camping trips, and family vacations. All filled with laughter and fun.
I think I could write at least three books, if not more of the way she touched so many of our lives. Unfortunately I can only share a very few right now.
This is the first memory I would like to share with you. I’m glad we did not always have a seat belt law our block would have never made it to school if there had been one in the early seventies. We were having major cold spells and freezing temperatures. My mom and dad would go out to start the vehicles so they would warm up before taking us to school. The car wouldn’t even turn over so mom would tell dad, “can you see if old blue will start. We had an old fifty-nine ford pickup one setter and low and behold it would start when all other cars would fail to do so. I remember all the neighbor kids and my mom, with my sister and I, we would all pile in together to ride the four blocks to school. There would be kids on top of kids with a tiny spot for mom to squeeze in under the wheel thank God the standard shift was on the steering console or she wouldn’t have been able to haul anywhere from five to twelve kids to school.
I remember the rides on our horses with my mom riding on Star, and dad and us kids riding along beside her on our other horses. Mom and dad taught us girls to love and respect all animals, except for maybe snakes and spiders.
One day my mom went out to the garage to get a screw out of my dad’s tool drawers and she found this big old black spider in a drawer, she called my dad home from work to kill it and told us kids not to go into the garage. Dad came home, to kill the spider, he walked into the garage and seconds later he walked back out with this huge spider in the palm of his hand, and said. Janeal I think this belongs to you! I loved that spider, and use to terrorize Jan with it, so she had hidden it a few months before and forgotten it.
One night after us kids were in bed, a friend of my parents’ Nadine Garbez called mom and asked her if she and dad could come over to J and N shoes, she had a bat upstairs and Joe was out of town. So mom got us kids up and dressed and we all went to help Nadine get the bat captured so she could finish her paperwork and open the store the next morning.
Mom took part in the PTA with Dorsalie Jones and a hundred other parents. So many memories there are too many to tell. She helped with Chili cook offs, cakewalks, and was always active in town affairs, working right along side so many others. My mom was very out going, she would fight for what she believed in, and stand up for what she believed I don’t ever remember her backing down.
In eighth grade I quit school because a teacher was treating me unfair. I walked home and told mom that I wasn’t going back. If my daddy only had an eight-grade education it was good enough for me. Oh no it isn’t she said. And drove me right back to school. We went to my locker, grabbed my math book and walked down to the library where Mrs. Gallagher’s room was, where the rest of the afternoon Mrs. Gallagher and her worked over all my math problems to determine whether my answers that had been checked wrong were actually wrong or right. After the bell rang she headed for the principal’s office and told him to send for my math teacher. When he showed up my mother politely inform the man and principal what she actually thought of him and his teaching certificate and where he could put that certificate. The next day I was switched to a new class, with a good teacher and received the (B) I actually deserved.
So many memories so little time to tell them, so I will finish up with my favorite and one she loved to tell. It is about a poem I wrote just after my ex-husband and I split up. Money was truly non-existent and Christmas was just weeks away. Of course my children were like all others and wanted this and that as well as the other new toy on the market. I had talked to my mother, about my worries and she told me about all the times while she had been growing up that money had never been enough to buy all they had wanted, so she had sugested I do what they did way back when, and make gifts for everyone. That night I made up this poem after watching one of my favorite Christmas movies.
The Empty Christmas Stocking
By Janeal Mulaney
I’ve noticed every Christmas, presents get more expensive
Everyone wants more and more.
Are we forgetting what Christmas is all about?
On the twenty-fifth day of December, we celebrate our Savior birth,
Jesus Christ was born.
Do we remember that it’s His birthday we celebrate?
Do we put a gift for Him beneath our Christmas tree?
Do we hang a stocking for Him for the entire world to see?
You might wonder what we’d give him even if we did.
Well, here are a few ideas to fill His stocking with.
There kindness toward each other, and the rest of our fellowman.
Peace on earth, and joy throughout our land.
We could also reach for understanding and forgiveness,
For the people we feel have done us wrong.
Compassion and caring we should give throughout each year.
Is his stocking getting full, or do we still have room for a whole lot more.
We could put in gentleness and tenderness, for they should go hand in hand.
Let’s not forget the love he gives us each and everyday
I still feel LOVE is the most important gift of all.
So, hang the empty stockings on the mantelpiece.
But don’t forget the most important one.
The empty stocking you hang for Jesus Christ.
Don’t forget all the items that make our Christmas bright.
Our Love for the Heavenly Father and our fellow man
For each time we show our love for another.
We show our love also for our savior
Let’s add all the other feelings that God gives each of us everyday.
Not just once a year.
We all love you mom and you will be missed.
