Normally when I plan a post about my parents, it takes some time, thought and reflection, reading through old letters or news clippings, to come up in the direction I want to go.  My mother's letters to me are filed in six or seven photo-size boxes, cataloged from 1983 when I started saving them to the last letter she wrote to me on February 7, 2006.  Today was easy.  The first letter I picked up and read "spoke" to me and made me laugh.  This excerpt is exactly how she wrote it.

Wednesday Morning
October 24, 1990 
54 degrees cloudy, rain ended

Dear Betsy,
       Not much doing, but I wanted to write anyway.  It rained hard all night.  Not cold though.  Yesterday I gave the living room a "fall" cleaning.  Not like I used to, of course, but the job is done anyway.
     Just now finished scrubbing sink and toilet.  If I should die, you will have to come up from Fla. and clean for your father.  I told Retta that he never sees any dirt.  Also got the dining room vacuumed. So that's it for today!

What a great attitude!  If I should die.....................

I love remembering how she fall and spring cleaned.  It's what was done in her days.  Windows were thrown open, rugs shook and aired over the line, woodwork washed (Murphy's oil soap?).  I can smell the freshness as I write.
I chuckled when reading her second paragraph about my father not seeing any dirt.  I think it's a male thing.  For years I figured Cliff needed to clean his glasses or get his eyes checked.

Thanks for the memories, Mom.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!