My Mom

So sorry about the quality of this picture, but there is only one and I framed it with crewel embroidery on very old muslin so many years ago. It's a picture of my mother when she had just graduated from high school. She always said that she hated this picture, but didn't complain after I framed it. It has hung in my house...it seems forever. She was named Edith, but she wanted a more stylish name and changed it to Edythe during high school....so Edythe it was. She was the only one in a family of six kids to graduate from high school. My Grandma raised the six without much assistance from my Grandpa, and really had some hard times...raising the kids. She only had one good dress and made it over for my Mom to wear for her graduation. Mom was always very stylish. She loved clothes and I really can't find a picture of her...when she wasn't wearing an outfit that was current with the times. She loved wearing dresses with a dickey at the neck. Sometimes an organza ruffled dickey on a dark dress. She could make her own clothes and did. She wore house dresses that were stylish too. Often a frilly apron to finish the outfit. When I was a teenager, she started wearing shorts, pedal pushers, and slacks. Although she never tanned...she would sit in the sun, with my baby brother, on a blanket in the back yard. During the war...she would draw a line on the back of her legs, so that you might think she had stockings on. She would take plain satiny underwear and sew lacy pieces on, so that it was beautiful. She used the old treadle machine until she got a Singer in a cabinet. This was a treasure to her. Now, she could make lots of clothes for me. She even made my prom dresses. My dresses were like no one else's...true originals. She made draperies and slipcovers to change the look of our little house. She and my Aunt Helen went into the upholstery business and had a very busy little business for themselves. She had an eye for beauty and nimble fingers. She was the first one (that I knew of) with a "fun fur". It was made to look like mink, but cost so much less. When she came to a party at my house...she had her "fun fur" on and took a lot of loving teasing about it. She always was the life of the party. She was Dad's pride and joy.He always had a twinkle in his eye...I like to think that it was because of her. He was a handsome man...I'll put his picture here on Father's day. He took her to the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. He never danced, but would check out the crowd and find the best dancer and pay him to dance with my Mom. I grew up hearing stories about their courtship and early marriage. I miss her today, as I write this post on a special weekend. Actually there are tears in my eyes. We never forgot her on Mother's Day and made a day so special... just for her. My sister in law and I were mothers too, but the day was hers as long as she was alive. She's gone now, but memories linger on. I had such a happy childhood...and she was always there for me as I grew up.

Balisha