A few weeks ago I went to Luci's for the weekend right after Christmas. We had a great time and some good conversation. This is one of the conversations we had.
We were talking about Mom and Dad's Christmas and I said, "Mom was so thrilled with her Christmas gifts. She said the light for the living room and the telephones were wonderful, and that the outfit Clyde and Jennie got her for Christmas was really nice." I said, "I'm glad we went together and got her and Dad stuff they needed. I'm just so bad about knowing what to get them for Christmas."
Luci said, "I told Clyde to just put the outfit for Mom in the price of the gifts and we would go in on that gift as well, but Clyde said 'No', that they would get Mom an outfit for Christmas."
When I talked to Mom again, the topic of Christmas presents came up and I said, "Well Mom, Luci said that she asked Clyde if he wanted to just put that outfit they got you in with what we got you and we would all pay on it, and he said 'No', he and Jennie would get it. Luci and I guessed that Jennie just likes to get you a nice outfit for Christmas as a tradition or something."
Mom said, "Oh No! It's Clyde that wants me to have the outfit."
I said, "Clyde?" ( I was puzzled? )
She said that he has always gotten her new clothes for Christmas, that it was from when he was a little boy. She said when he was little that money was really tight, and that she never had extra money to buy herself anything new. She had to wear hand-me-down clothes from Aunt Virgie. She would say to Clyde when he was little, "When you get to be a big boy, you will buy your mommy some new clothes for Christmas."
I could just picture in my mind this little 5 or 6 year-old boy, listening to his mom talk about how he would take care of his mom and buy her something new and nice when he got big . She said that Clyde and Jennie always come with clothes for her at Christmas, and they are beautiful and nice.
Well, I finished the conversation with Mom and picked up the phone, called Luci and told her the story about the clothes.
The line got silent for a minute and then she said, "Yes, that's true. Mom never had anything new, she spent all of her money on us kids. She would roll Mrs. Stapleton's hair for a quarter or fifty cents, and take her to the store for a little money. She would put it in a jar to buy a few school clothes for us kids to start school. She always spent money on us and never for herself. "
I knew Mom was a special mom but I would never really have known about all the sacrifices, if I hadn't mentioned the Christmas clothes.
Michelle
4 comments:
It's definitely Mom's turn to get presents for Christmas. She had it hard when we were little. It makes me feel good that she can get her hair done and has nice clothes and jewelry. Jenny can suit her. She always gets Mom something that looks good and fits well. She really looks sharp. She and Dad seem to be happier now than I ever remember them being before.
Psychological Conditioning
I'm worried that Michelle may have learned about the psychological concept of a 'conditioned response' and the power of a 'repeated suggestion' to influence someone to behave a certain way later in life.
I bet the boys are hearing...
"Jeremy Honey, when you get older you're going to buy your poor old mommy a fine new car, ain't you."
"Justin Baby, when you get all grown up, you will make sure your poor old mommy has a nice, big house to live in, won't you."
Michelle, if I remember correctly how Mom did it, in order for this to work the suggestions have to be repeated thousands of times, many thousands of times.
Night and Day.
What a wonderful story. I am sure glad thing have turned out the way they have. They could have been a lot diffrent. God had truly blessed us with wonderful parents.
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