My Mother was a List Maker

My mother is in a box on a shelf in the living room, I think it is a cedar box, though it might be mahogany. I never unwrapped it since picking it up from the funeral parlor. It is quite small, somehow I hadn't expected it to be so small, 81/2 by 7 by 4 inches. At some point my brothers and I are going to disperse her ashes, but for now she is visiting. My mother passed on the 29th of December of last year at 6:30 p.m.. Her downward spiral and subsequent demise is another story. Following is what I read a the memorial;

My mother was list maker, in her honor I have 

made some lists about her.

Animals kept as family pets (mostly)

Chickens

Geese

Goats (Lily and Mandy)

Rabbits

Dogs

Cats

Chameleon

Snakes

Guinea Pigs

Rats

Mice

Iguana

Toads

Parakeet

Japanese Quail

Gold Fish

Too many Black Mollies

Countries Visited

Denmark

Germany

France

Belgium

England

Holland

Sweden

Norway

USSR (when it was the USSR)

Finland

Brazil

Japan

India

Korea

China

Canada

Sports

Track

Basketball

Swimming

Rowing

Tennis

Biking

Hiking

Sailing

Volunteer Work

PTA

Yard Duty

Poll Worker

Recording For the Blind

Stanford Medical Library

Bargain Bin (Children's Health Council)

Sayings

A word to wise is sufficient.

If you want something done right, do it yourself.

It's not what you look; it's what you do that is important.

Mixing substances together can yield unexpected results.

If you are thirsty, drink water.

Avoid empty calories.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Be efficient.

Keep everything under control.

Wear clean underwear.

Don't stay in wet clothes.

Don't turn up the heat, put on a sweater.

Turn off that light if you are not using it.

Wear comfortable shoes that you can walk or run in if need be.

Don't call children "kids", they are not baby goats.

Don't let anyone slip you a Mickey.

Things I learned from my mother.

Read to your children.

Have pets.

Learn the proper names of plants and animals.

Get some exercise.

Eat healthy food.

Recycle whatever you can.

Embarrass your children by being yourself, it builds character, yours and theirs.

Enjoy your children's interests. 

Play games with your children.

Grammar is important.

Miscellaneous

Called all young boys "son".

Referred to her drippy nose as her "English Nose".

Had big feet for her height.

Wore glasses from the age of 5.

Got in fights at school.

Was an excellent speller her whole life.

Could do math in her head her whole life.

Had a Boston terrier when young.

Referred to herself as "a little old lady in tennis shoes."

Got a ticket for driving too slow in the Mojave Desert.

She could have said "no"

When her kitchen was used to boil a dead frog so Ben could extract the bones and reconstruct the skeleton.

When her kitchen was used by Ben to make mead, honey was spilled.......

When Nick wanted to paint his room red and have one entire wall a blackboard.

When Diana wanted a horse.

When the boys wanted a BB gun.

When John decided to become a sailor.

When Diana wanted to put a "Shirley Chisholm for President" sticker on the car.

When Nick brought a rattlesnake to Thanksgiving Dinner in a Mason jar. (The snake graced the table through the meal).

She Liked

To look a the moon

To look at trees, "trees are a great thing to a girl raised in New York City."

Words

Chocolate

Licorice

Rocks

Nature

Walks

A bright pink Mohair sweater that got ripped in a bike accident.

Wearing shorts

Post Its.