Happy Birthday to my Mother

My Mother in her early twenties. I look a lot like her, only she was tiny and well, I am not!

My Mother standing on the left dressed in white with my aunt and uncle and a friend. She was in her early teens in this photo.

My Mother the second from the right standing in the back with my Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles, this was not the entire family.

My Mother at the age of 25 0r 26 with my oldest brother at his baptism.

My Mother sitting on the left with some of her friends. When she was very young she came to the United States from Canada with her sister. They worked long hours at a lace mill in NYC, they would send the money home to help my Grandparents. My Mother told me they worked really hard for very little money and they lived in a rooming house with many young ladies. She said on their day off they would go to 5Th Avenue and look at the "fancy-clothes". She started sewing to make clothes like she saw in the windows of the shops in NYC.

My Mother at the age of 94!

Happy Birthday!

She is no longer with us, but I still feel her spirit. My Mother was strong for a tiny little thing, she had more courage and faith than anyone I know. I wish she was still with us, I would love to share my doll making with here; sometimes when I am making a doll a feel as if she is looking down at me and laughing because sometimes I am not sure what I am doing! I learned to sew by watching her.

She raised 8 children and was a grandmother to 27 grand kids and I have lost count of the great-grandchildren and there is one great-great grandchild!

She was a great cook, she made the best apple pies and cakes. I still long for her mac and cheese and homemade garlic bread. Cooking is one thing I wish I could do as well as she did, she could make a meal out of nothing and it was always so good.

She lived on a tiny amount of money each month, I bet she could balance the budget for our country and have money left over. She managed to save and pay all of her expenses on an income of under $500.00 a month. She was thrifty yet giving if any of her children needed help.

She taught us to stand on our own two feet and to never let obstacles stand in our way. She taught us to think for ourselves and she would always say, "Hard work never hurt anyone!" She was also funny, her humor was unique.

She loved to be dressed up and made all of her clothes, she could look at something in a store or magazine and make the same thing without a pattern.

Happy Birthday Mother, I know that right now you must be asking yourself why I am writing about you on a thing called a "blog". . .it is because I want anyone who reads this to know how special you were and how much we all love you and miss you!

She left us on June 15, 1999 at the age of 95.

I Love You,