Cracklin' Rosie

Today marks the 16th anniversary of my Mom's death - she was 2 months shy of her 50th birthday and a year short of her 25th Anniversary with my Dad. And she was way too young to be taken so early by this damn disease.  

But as much as I miss her, I have a tonne of good memories of her. She instilled in me a deep love for old time country music and Elvis Presley. Weekends were spent cleaning the house to the likes of Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty. She had a 20 year crush on Victor Newman from the Young and the Restless. (Insert Eye-roll Here) She was a die-hard sports fan - CFL football, Blue Jays baseball (she thought Cito Gaston was dreamy), hockey and curling. 

She made the best cream peas and brown-sugar pork chops EVER (and she made them every year for my birthday dinner). Her pickles were the best I have ever come across and her strawberry pies were amazing. She truly believed that Pepsi was better than Coke. (WHAT???) Her favorite chocolate bar was a Jersey Milk and her favorite chips were Onion & Garlic. (Yuck.) And she had more than a passing fancy for chocolate covered cherries and black forest cake. 

She is the reason for a lot of my weird sayings, what I now refer to as "Rose-ism's" whenever Tim looks at me funny for something strange that comes out of my mouth. 
For example:
"Sit still, you're jumping around like a peanut on a toilet door." 
"Time to hit the fart sack."
"Home again, home again, jiggity-jig."



She is the reason I love to read and be surrounded by books. She made me the killer Scrabble player I am today and is the reason Tim refuses to play with me. She refused to stop playing until she won at least one game of cards on our family Rummy nights. She loved to jive and she had the greatest giggle around. That being said, she was also one of the grumpiest morning people that I have ever known, not always a great combination because my dad can be annoyingly chipper in the morning. You were taking your life into your own hands by talking to her before her morning coffee - and that has helped me a lot in how I deal with Tim in the wee hours of the morning these days. ;-)

She and my Dad illustrated on a daily basis what a good marriage is all about. They had their fights like everyone else - the occasional snip here or there and they could give each other the silent treatment with the best of them, but they also held hands on the sofa while watching TV at night. And even after almost 25 years together, it was nothing for them to hug and smooch in front of us, or for dad to give her the odd swat on her bottom as she walked by. She would love Tim and the relationship I have found with him.

She taught me the importance of family and the need to care for and maintain relationships with my elders. Holidays for us were spent visiting grandparents and aunts and uncles. When the time came, there was never a question at all that I would visit Grandpa in the care home every weekend- and like it. 

And she was brave. She left her first marriage with very little education and less money in order to protect her kids. She re-entered the workforce after 20 years of raising kids, and she was very good at it. Although she wasn't well educated in the classic sense of the word, she was incredibly smart. And she had a dedication to religion and prayer that I sometimes envy these days. 

Her signature scent was Night Magic by Avon, and I still have a bottle of it on my dresser that I smell whenever I need to remember her. She called me Bobbie-Anne. And she gave great hugs.