Do you recognize the title of this blog post?

If you do, you’re over 30 or an old movie or early TV buff. I Remember Mama was a book first, then a movie, then a charming TV series.

It was the story of a Swedish family that immigrated to San Francisco early in the 20th century. If you haven’t seen this move, rent it. It is all about how Mama–kind, good and wise–keeps her family together and loved.

I lost my mother over a year ago. Unfortunately the end of her life was nothing like the days I most treasure, the days when she was a young and loving mother. Dementia and its unpleasant side effects separated us at the end.

But today I want to remember Mama, the way I loved her.

My mother loved animals. Our house was always filled with them–some ours; some of the neighbors. It wasn’t unusual to come home from school and find the house filled with all the pets on the block. We had turtles, ducks, fish, cats, dogs, a baby robin. (The robin’s another story for another day.)

One special memory is the cat from down the street who obviously didn’t trust her kittens with her owner. She had her kittens in her own home. But after a few hours after delivery, she carried each kitten one by one up the hill to our house. My mother “got” what the mama-cat wanted and set up a box with an old blanket in it. The cat nestled all three of her mewing kittens to that box and moved in. Once or twice a day, she would go down to her house and visit her owners but then she would come back to our house.

Our neighbor was not amused. But what could she do? When the kittens were old enough to give away, my mom found homes for them. And the mama-cat moved back to her owners.

One Christmas memory I have is of my first cat, a very large, a very loving tom who thought that we had put the Christmas tree up just for him. He climbed it every night!

And this was in the days of glass ornaments. Every night for three nights we woke up to CRASH!!!! We had to pick up the tree, sweep up the shattered glass ornaments and redecorate.

Now most moms would have banished the cat until the tree came down New Year’s Eve.

Not my mom.

She put a cup hook in the all and tied a narrow rope to the tree. Then the cat could climb the tree and not knock it over. Now most moms would not have wanted a cup hook in her living room wall. But to my mom, the cat was more important than the wall.

Now I’m going to stop rambling for today. But drop by Thursday, New Year’s Day and read about my mom’s most unbelievable animal Christmas.

Blessings,
Lyn