Popeye

When I asked my mom about traits of her mother, she told me this story about her mom's sense of humor:

"My mom always tried to make us laugh when things were difficult. It was the Depression when we were young and I remember one day the six of us were all sitting around the table complaining and grumbling. We had so little during that time. Mom got up, took out her dentures and put a teaspoon in her mouth, hanging it out like a pipe. She then did a little a dance around the table, singing "I'm Popeye the sailor man..." until all of us were laughing so hard."

(I remember my grandmother as a tiny woman and I can see her in my mind's eye dancing and trying to cheer up her children during those hard times.)

A Place to Start

This year for Christmas, I bought a book called "Conversations with my Mother". The book is written as a guide to gather stories and history about the life of a mother. My dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's 4 years ago and I have slowly watched him lose the ability to remember. My mom, on the other hand, can easily access memories of her childhood that I wanted to capture for myself and for subsequent generations.
I showed my mom ( who is 87 years young) on Christmas and she looked through the book with doubt and hesitation but as she read the chapter titles she would tell little gems of stories that she has never told me. It was soon clear that the book would not be enough space to write all the wonderful stories I was hearing and so I will use this place to record "the rest of the story..."