by Joanne Wiklund
One little known claim to fame I have is that I was born on Mother’s Day. I don’t remember it, of course, but I’m sure I was welcomed. Even if I was the second girl. Setting a trend? Not really. Mom and Dad wound up years later with three boys added to the clan. We were set from then on.
What a ride it’s been! Mom was so good with all of us. She loved to laugh, and she loved, period. So did Dad. They both loved people, especially children and babies. Mom loved little boys and all their Knock Knock jokes. She could come up with a pair of dark pants and a white shirt for a boy’s school program from last minute notice after school. Even if she did have to wash out the shirt by hand and dry it in the oven till it was just damp enough to iron immediately. She fed families Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and there was always enough food. She even managed to feed a South Dakota truck driver one year who was lost and found us by all the cars in the drive and the yard.
She worked at a daily job as we got older. Her last words out the door were always, “Take care of your brothers.” We did as best we could, till they got old enough to help take care of us. A loving, caring grandmother par excellence, she always said when the kids leave home their parents shouldn’t close the door tight behind them because sooner or later they’ll be back. Her goodbye on the phone was never goodbye. It was always, “Honey, it will be alright.” Generally, whatever we told her was alright. The older I get, I realize that I celebrate Mother’s Day nearly every day of the year. I think of her and her dedication to us all more every day. She showed us that love is not necessarily what you know or think. So often, Love is a verb not a noun. Love is what you do for someone else without expecting anything in return. You know, like Jesus.
Proverbs 8:17 “I love them that love me: and those that seek me early shall find me.”
Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for them that love God.”
John 16:27 “The Father himself loveth you, because you have loved me.”
Psalms 37:1 “Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.”