It is hard to believe that my mother would have turned 90 years old this month.
I was thinking about my mom today and had so many great memories of her and here are a few of my favorite.
1. I remember when our family lived in Bethesda, Maryland in the early 60s, sometimes she would do a little tap dance in the kitchen on the linoleum floor, while making dinner and she was good. She just seemed happy like that. At 20 she had studied ballet in New York and was accepted into the “Rockettes” before she met my dad.
2. I remember in 1972 when she drove to college from Nashville to Memphis and we went to TGI Fridays for dinner and she ordered an Apricot Sour. I thought that was funny, because she never really drank.
3. I remember when I was in my early 20sd she told me, “Never move anywhere for man, if he wants you to move, let him marry you.” Boy how right she was, I have seen girls friends move for a guy and it didn’t work out, just like she said.
4. I remember disliking someone so much and telling her about it as a twelve-year-old and she said, “Smother them with kindness,” and I did and they changed, so I disliked them a little less.
5. I remember going with her in the car driving from Nashville up to Washington, DC, and she was “Dare Devil Dodie” on the road. What a packed car we had with kids and young adults, moving along, many hours on the road, but it was fun. She and my husband, Mike Maskeny just loved maps. I never met any two people who loved maps as much as they did.
6. I remember her saying she was going to her 40th High School Reunion, and I thought how crazy is that? But now this year it’s my 40th HS Reunion and it doesn’t seem so crazy.
7. I remember she was flying back from visiting her mother in Iowa and my dad and I were waiting for her at the gate (you could do that back then). My dad had made up this poster that read, “Doris I love You”. The goofball actually stood there holding up this big sign, he missed her so much. A woman got off the plane before mom did and said to him, “I don’t know who Doris is but she is one lucky woman.”
8. I remember she did “Glamour Shots” with Karen and when the photos came back Dad said, isn’t she beautiful? Isn’t your mother beautiful? And I thought well yeah, kinda, I mean she is mom? But now looking at that photo of her when she was 70 years old, heck she looked way better at 70 than I do at 58! Dad was right about that.
9. I remember her making my three little brothers, Pat, Mike and Bill “Chip Beef & Toast” and you they loved it. She would us pancakes for dinner sometimes on Friday during Lent and I thought that was cool.
10. I remember her taking my brothers to church, when they were scheduled to serve as altar boys, for the early 6:00am mass during the week, and she always dressed us up for church on Sundays too, which is very impressive considering she was a convert.
Wait a great role model she was and she was always kind and caring, she put her family first, but always had time to do charity work. She had seven children and was married to my father for 53 years before he died in 1996.
She was an amazing woman and I love her so much.
April 10 is a special day and I just want to say, we love you Mom and miss you terribly, but we know you are having the best birthday ever in heaven with your family and Dad. God bless you Mom and thank you for being the best mother anyone could ever have.
Luellen Hoffman 2012
