The Things My Mother Did

So this morning I decided to make peanut butter cookies. I got out my huge 5 lb. tub of Adam's crunchy peanut butter. Rats, it hadn't been opened yet. Being the first to open a tub of Adam's is the worst job. Trust me-I know, way back from my childhood. My mom was the only mother I knew who bought Adams and I'd always wished she'd been the mother who bought Jif. Adams is an all natural peanut butter and when you open it, it has about 3 inches of oil separation on the top. Now, to get the oil mixed all of the way to the bottom is a must! If you don't, the bottom 2-3 inches of your peanut butter is so hard it is nearly impossible to spread (that doesn't keep you from using it though, it just rips your bread, but you live with it). So I spent a good 5 minutes wrestling with the peanut butter, with oil dripping down my arms, the peanut butter tub, and all over the towel I had the good foresight to place under the tub. How annoying. But, now my peanut butter is all mixed up and with 5 lbs. of the stuff, we should be good to go for awhile.

However, Adams got me thinking about some of the things my mom did when I was a kid that I swore I'd never do.

1. Never buy Adams, Jif was better

2. Never make my kids eat wheat bread (especially the bird seed kind), Wonder bread was the way to go!

3. Never introduce my kids to carob (this was my mom's substitute for chocolate chips for awhile-for those of you who don't know what it is, you can only buy it out of the bulk bins at a health food store). It is not a good substitute for chocolate chips.

4. Never make my kids eat just honey, sugar tastes better on your cereal.

My mom was organic before organic was organic! Every summer we worked like slaves in our garden (about a 40ft by 60ft plot). We were up at 6am and in the garden before 7am to weed for an hour. Then my mom would can like a wild woman until our pantry was full of a year's worth of canned tomatoes, beans, cherries, peaches, pears, sauces, applesauce, pickels, relish, prunes, and tunafish. She ground her own wheat for homemade whole wheat (honey) bread and was the only woman I ever knew who made whole wheat cinammon rolls, she made up her own recipe and glaze. Which, by the way, are fantastic and a favorite of every sports team we ever belonged to and were always highly requested.

Why then, as a kid, did I crave Wonder bread, McDonald's, Cinnabon, and all the goodies that I saw my friends getting? Why did I not see how lucky we were to have a mom who was so capable and talented and put so much work and effort into our health, home, and family? Well, I took it for granted. But now, as a mom, I find myself trying to emmulate in so many ways the things my mother did for us. I am learning how to can, my MIL and I started our own garden this year, I feed my kids Adams and wheat bread. And although I am a little more relaxed about some things than my mom was (ex: I give them too much McDonalds, after-dinner desserts, and they have had the more-than-occasional white bread sandwich), I am glad to report that many of my mom's influential teachings have prevailed.

So, on this Mother's Day weekend, I just want to say "thank you" to my special mom for all the wonderful ways she fed our family; physically, spiritually, and emotionally. She is truly a gift to my siblings and me and still continues to be the go-to lady for questions about sick kids, gravy-making, tomato plants, canning, and how to get stains out of anything. I don't know what we'd do without her, I love her forever.