Here’s a little tribute to her.
My mother began working in the school cafeteria at the middle school across the street from our house when I was in the third grade. It was the perfect job schedule-wise because she was still able to drop me off at school and pick me up. Not to mention, the commute was awesome! At that time I only knew that she was somewhere else than home while I was at school but it didn’t effect me otherwise. That is until I got to that middle school.
Sometime during my 6th grade year I realized that it wasn’t so “cool” for her to be the lunch lady and I constantly felt that the one thread of popularity that I was hanging on to would surely be cut and tossed. I layed low every day at lunch time, rarely ever got a “hot lunch” (which is where she worked at the time) and the few times that I needed her for money or something else, I was very discreet, as was she. That’s the thing. She was very busy everyday at lunch time. I mean that was her job and it’s hard work feeding a bunch of surley pre-teens. She didn’t have time to come and slobber all over me and ask me how my day was going. But for some reason I still lived in mortal fear of this.
She left the house every morning in her navy blue pants, white polo-style shirt and work shoes. She worked with some ladies who weren’t so pleasant (especially her boss) and in greasy and hot conditions. And what for?
Well, some years ago in all my non-teenage wisdom, it hit me. My mother wasn’t necessarily working because we HAD to have more money. She was working so that she could do something with some of her day besides watching As The World Turns (although don’t get me wrong, she still recorded it every day on her VCR). And… she was working so that she and I could have some “fun money.” Many times she would cash her paycheck and the following Saturday we would hit the local mall. We didn’t have a mall very close to us back then so I remember MANY drives to Barton Creek Mall with my mother (it was a good 25 minutes at least) where we would talk and just be together. Then we would go around to The Limited and various other stores spending much of her hard-earned money. My mother was working that job so that we could go shopping. She worked there for many years, until I was in college, possibly helping to pay for some of that too. I am forever indebted to my mother for the time she spent at that job. I did not know it then but today I look back and realize the sacrafices she made for me and for us as a family.
My mother has worked hard all her life, starting as the child of farmers. She raised 4 kids. She fed countless teenagers their pizza and hamburgers and fed us every night of the week (well except the nights where she would pick up fried chicken, which were few and far between). She continues to cook huge meals every holiday and is very active in all 10 of her grandchildren’s lives and her church. She is a wonderful friend, wife, mother and humanitarian. I try to honor her every day but especially on her birthday. I love you Mom, Happy Birthday…
A few of my favorite pictures.