All this time, I’ve been talking about Mom’s illness, her troubles, her triumphs. For Mother’s Day, I thought you should get a better glimpse of what she was like before she aged and landed in a hotbed of health problems.
Back in the day, Mom was a sharp-shooter. She was able to shoot a hole through a penny with a .22 rifle from yards away. My paternal grandfather carried the one she shot for him on his keyring until the day he died. I have no clue where it is or if whoever has it knows the significance, but he was proud of his new daughter-in-law at the time.
Before she and Daddy got married, Mom rode a motorcycle, an Indian, to be exact, but only for a short while. She lived with her aunt and uncle–the uncle who taught her to shoot, and the aunt who was scared of her own shadow and tried her best to create Mom after her own image. Mom rebelled. When her aunt put her foot down about the motorcycle, Mom took flying lessons, taking to the air in a Piper Cub. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long either, but it’s fun to think of her as a barn-stormer, even though she never quite made the status. Oh, and about her “biker” days? She still has the belt she wore as she rode, broad, studded black leather and tinier than my waist when I was thirty pounds underweight!
She was multi-talented. Many of my readers know she sang on live radio back in the 1950s. She also owned an award-winning dance school, and she was a landscape artist–which I remember most because she painted during most of my life until her eyes started giving out. Many of her friends have her work in their homes, and, of course, I do too. I could spend hours lost in the scenes of her brooks and meadows. I remember her singing, too. As I got older, we sang together. I have a recording of us in a duet. If I didn’t already know who sang melody and who sang harmony, it would be hard even for me to tell us apart.
Mom loved to fish, and would often get me out of school to go with her (particularly when Daddy was working out of town). Perfect attendance didn’t hold the priority that high grades did, and neither held priority when bass were biting! We fished the Brazos River, Lake Sommerville, and private ponds all over the Brazos Valley. Rarely did a summer pass when we didn’t have a pole in our hands.
What I appreciate most about my mother, though, is her vast knowledge of the Bible and her deep relationship with her Saviour. I wasn’t raised in church, I was raised at her knee. She taught me not just to read the Bible, but to study it. Not just to meet Jesus, but to develop a relationship with him. As a consequence, I don’t have “memory verses” stored away as I should, I don’t know what a woman’s role is as one of the matrons in the church, I don’t consider church attendance vital to salvation. But I do consider salvation vital to life, I recognize a woman’s role in raising godly kids and grandkids, and I believe the Bible holds the answers to all life’s problems, the lessons of the past, and the secrets of the future.
If you ask her, she can point out all the ways she failed as a mother. If you ask me, I can’t think of a one.
Several years into it, and this blog still refuses to be categorized. It's eclectic and includes everything from writing posts to snippets from my ordinary life. 
Linda W. Yezak 
What an amazing woman, thank you for introducing me to her. She sounds a lot like my mom. The fact your mother pointed you to Jesus and showed you how important that relationship is speaks volumes. My mom bought her first motorcycle at 40. It was an off road dirt bike. At 79 my mom now rides a 4 wheeler, deer hunts (got a 9 pointer last year) loves to fish, paints beautiful watercolors and spends time everyday reading her Bible and deepening her relationship with Jesus. Are we blessed or what? There is nothing that compares to having a fun, lively, adventurous mom who knows how to pray for her children.
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Your mother could be my aunt! I wish Mom was as healthy as your mother.
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Very sweet read. 🙂
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Jen, I wish you could’ve met her before Daddy got cancer and she started having trouble. You two would’ve really loved each other!
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I envy you, in a good way. I never had much of a relationship with my mom. She died at the age of 58 from cancer. Reading about you and your mom warms my soul. Give her a hug from me!
(I’m her favorite – remember?!)
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Pegg–yep. You’re her favorite! You always make her laugh. So sorry you’ve gone all this time without your mother. I know how you must miss her.
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Beautiful. You have a lot of sweet memories.
And don’t count Mom out yet, as far as adventures. She may surprise you, like my mother-in-law surprised us at 88, entering and winning the crown of Louisiana State Nursing Home Queen. I think the secret to her winning was her answer when they asked her how living in a nursing home affected her life. Some contestants gave depressing answers. She said “I’m getting to do some things I never thought I’d ever get to do. Like entering this pageant.”
I hope I get to meet Dusty some day. She sounds like a one-in-a-million mom.
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Your mom sounds like she was one-in-a-million, too!
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What a lady! A sharpshooting, Indian-riding barnstormer – and that’s just the first paragraph. I think I’d like your mom. 🙂
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I know she’d like you!
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Great tribute to your mother.You should use her as a model for one or more of your characters.
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I plan to, actually. She’d be a fun person to characterize!
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Wow. What a role model! To have all of those talents! She sounds like everyone’s dream: art, outdoors, adventure and strong faith. Absoulutely nothing lacking. You are so lucky. God bless you both this Sunday and everyday.
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Same to you, Marie. Have a wonderful Mother’s Day!
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I love this, Linda. My mom is strong but not so adventurous and would deny she has any talent at all (not true). Your mom must be so very proud of you!
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I’m proud of her!
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What a wonderful tribute to your Mom! She is so proud of you as you are of her. I actually met Linda through her Mom who was a tablemate of ours on an Alaskan cruise in 1998. She and her travel companion left us in stitches each evening when we discussed the day’s events. Phone calls still leave us in stitches.
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Two years later and I’m just now finding this, Joan. Anyway, I know how much Mom appreciates you. She thoroughly enjoys your calls. Thank you for being a friend to her!
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