Flashback Friday. 8-20.

Flashback Friday is the brainchild of Tia over at Christopher and Tia. Go on a flashback with me.

A very young *young is relative* mom with a very young son.  I bet we have 100 pictures of Little J before he’s two months old!  And that was before digital cameras.  I’ve been going through the pictures, sorting and throwing away the duds, getting ready to send another batch to ScanDigital for scanning.   Why did I keep dozens of bad pictures, thinking I had to keep every shot that was taken.  I kept this one because I was having a GOOD HAIR DAY!

That little baby just turned 13 and started 7th grade.

For you younger mothers, let me share something from my heart.  You are stronger than you ever imagine you could be.  You WILL get through these days of scattered toys, spilled milk, temper tantrums, too little money and too little sleep, too many diapers, putting in and taking out of the car seat.  Take every giggle, every wet smooch, every book time, every quiet moment of love, every this-little-piggy-went-to-market and tuck them away in your heart.  Pull those treasures out and run your fingers over them when you think you cannot go one minute longer.  The past 13 years have alternately sped by and drug on, but each day is 24 hours and you don’t get that time back.

Little J, I am proud and honored to be your mommy.

P.S. If you are ready to start digitizing your photos, please give ScanDigital a try.  And even better…here’s a coupon code to get $20 off $100 of services.  Get ready.  Here’s the code. Rf448378

All writing and photos property of LoneStarLifer. 2010.

Happy Mother’s Day.

I have been working on getting all of my parents’ slides and old pictures digitized.  More about that in a later post.  While working on the slides, I came across this picture.  I don’t remember seeing this slide, though we often spent Saturday nights looking at slides projected on a wall and I thought I had them all memorized.  I was touched when I saw this picture, as I don’t have many pictures of me and my mom in a sweet moment.    I will be having this picture printed and framed to remind me of a more innocent time in my life.

My mom

My mom is quite a woman.  She attended college and earned a journalism degree.  I’m not going to tell you what years, as a lady never tells her real age.  She moved far away from home, lived in a boarding house that Miss Lily ran, and wrote for a newspaper.  She later moved to the small town where my father was raised to work for the newspaper, dated and happily married my father.   He was soon drafted for Korea and they traveled to California and Camp Roberts.   She could type like crazy and was able to get a job while Dad was in boot camp.  When he went overseas, she came back to Texas.  I was born about a year after he returned home.  Hmmm….

She was the kind of mom that was always there when I was in school.  Every play, music event, piano recital, school assembly, she was there.  We were at church when the doors were open and the Lord was always present in our home.  When I was in high school she went back to work and started putting money away so I could go to the private university I wanted to attend.  She became the first public information director for the town’s brand new junior college.  She held that job for at least 20 years.  Because my mom can write, she’s been active and involved in several organizations over the years, historical associations in particular.  She has written multitudes of  newspaper and newsletter articles about historical houses, events, people.  She was the reporter that called in stories to the two nearest larger towns.  She and my dad were instrumental in getting several historical markers in and around town.  She wrote a very nice book about the history of my hometown and sold all the copies.  She has worked on and contributed to many other books about city/county history.  Even today she is still active with the writing and the historical events.  She recently flew to Houston for a convention and Little J and I got to spend some time with her at the hotel.

Mom

I love how someone wrote "Our Treasure" on this picture

My relationship with my mom has been……well, you know, mother and daughter.  I spent many years being an ungrateful child and not giving her any credit for all she has accomplished.  But, of course, as I am aging and raising an energetic, lively child, I am growing to have more and more appreciation for how she has lived her life.  Over the years she has been there for my family and me time after time after time.  My dad has been gone for 11 years, she has battled serious illness twice, she has faced disappointment and loss, but she is like Timex.  Takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

So Mom, Happy Mother’s Day.  I am grateful, appreciative, and honored to be your daughter.  Many many thanks for all you have done and continue to do to make my life better.

Mom and Dad

P.S.  Are you interested in getting your pictures, slides, home movies digitized?  I have used ScanDigital for those services and am very happy with their work and customer service.  (All the pictures in today’s post came from ScanDigital.)  I first found them through Groupon.  If you haven’t started using Groupon, you should!  Go here and sign up.  They send you an email each weekday (sometimes on Saturday) that offers you great deals.  Sometimes the offer is for something in a specific city, and sometime, like ScanDigital, it is for services that can be used anywhere.  Even if you don’t live in a city where Groupon is offered, sign up for a city near you.  You will still be able to use the Groupons that can be redeemed online.  If you decide you want to use ScanDigital, I am pleased to offer a coupon for $20 off $100 of service.  The coupon code is: Rf448378.  {End of commercial}

All photos and writing property of LoneStarLifer. 2010.