Posted on by Bonne Marie

Thursday, August 31, 2006

momfsh.jpg

This is my favorite picture of my Mom. She’s gone fishin’, wearing her Buster Brown socks. I think the date is 1938. Mom turns 74 today.

Even now, when I look in my Mother’s face, just talking, most times I see this bright little smile. Her eyes crinkle up along the edges in the same joyful shape. They draw me in and hold me tight. Might be the most powerful tractor beam on the planet, this connection between a mother and child.

You’ve probably felt this power. Maybe your own mother was just looking at you with delight. Maybe those eyes told you another unspoken story and made you squirm and wince and wish you hadn’t ditched your little sister when Mom asked you to play with her for a just a little while longer.

Maybe those eyes gave you needed understanding and hope even when you knew what was behind the outside was something only she could bear on the inside and maybe never really show you.

It’s been a hard, hard year for my Mom. She’s been making peace with difficult physical changes in her spine. It’s letting her down in so many ways, I am sometimes astounded she can even move around anymore at all.

But move she does and this year, when it got close to her birthday and she started talking SOCKS I knew just what to do. Last year, I’d given her little sister, my aunt, some yarn and needles and set her down the rosy path to Toeville.

This is what I sent to Mom:

momsox.jpg

Under all this swag is the “Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles” book and on top, some Regia, Opal, Cascade 220 and Addis to practice on before she goes small gauge. I showed Mom how to use the two circs to knit big pieces a few years ago to help her manage the weight of a sweater.
I can’t wait to see what she makes with this!

32 Replies to “Thursday, August 31, 2006”

  2. What a lovely Mom-tribute. She’s lucky to have such a wonderful daughter. And vice-versa! :-)

    A very happy birthday, dear Bonne Marie’s Mom!

  3. That is a fantastic! package you’ve put together. Needless to say we can all envision her “mom smile” when she opens the package. Lotsa cyber birthday wishes to your mom and lotsa admiration for your tribute and thoughts BM. You’re a wonderful soul.

  7. Happy B’day to your mom, and what a lovely tribute from you. Hope she loves the sock yarn and knitting with it. She’s up around Reed City isn’t she? Great place to be wearing comfy warm socks

  9. Way to make Mom happy! She’s such a cutie.

    I got my Mom hooked on socks too. Last mother’s day I gave her:
    – Lorna’s Laces, Opal, and Regia
    – 2 sets of DPNs so she could either knit with 5 needles, or have spares
    – a print-out of every free pattern off the internet that I thought she might like. Including a pattern I wrote.

  12. I loved the picture of your mom — she’s just a bit older than I, and she reflects the fun and peace of an earlier era. I know war was rumbling over in Europe about the time of the picture, but childhood was sweet in those days — we played instead of having to be at ballet lessons, Little League, tai kwon do, or any number of things that kids do today. I can remember splashing in mud puddles in my underpants after a summer rain (of course, we lived out in the country, and no one had even heard of pedophiles back then!) and riding on my dad’s hay wagon to country school.

  13. Aw, what a great picture! She is just about the same age as my Mom and I cherish the few pictures I have of my Mom as a kid. Happy Birthday to your Mom! That’s a great birthday present…I’m sure she will love it!

  14. Now that is a wonderful gift! :-)

    I’ve been meaning to knit your mom’s awesome Camp Jacket for ages now. Maybe this fall is finally the time to do it!

  15. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!! and many many more. Can’t wait to see her socks, too. And may the birthday fairy wave her wand over mom’s spine and give her some healing and relief.
    LOVE the fishing picture. It does kind of capture it all, yes? Much love to you both.

  16. Happy Happy Birthday to MOM!! Enjoy your birthday, your goody box, and another year! Prayers for healing are mingled with this message.

  17. The picture is priceless. You and your mother are lucky to have have each other and have a beautiful connection. She’s going to love knitting all that wonderful swag!

  18. Bonne, Great photo, I have one of my mum from around that age too. I just love the fishing pole and the catch! It captures a time when life was so much simpler. I’m looking to get some of that simplicity into my life right now. I wish your mom the best of birthdays!

    Leslie

  19. what a lovely tribute to your mom! and i know she will love the sock swag…light on the hands and as close to an instant gratification project as most knitters get! happy birthday and best wishes to your mother.

  20. The happiest of birthdays to your mom. That looks like a lovely box of goodies you sent her way. I’m trying to get my mom bitten by the sock bug as well, maybe I’ll have to try a similar approach!

  25. That is indeed a wonderful picture of your momma! I’m sorry to hear she’s ailing a bit, and please wish her a wonderful and sockfilled birthday.

  27. I don’t know what to say except, perhaps, you realize just how fortunate you are to know the bright eyed little girl who became your Mum.

    My mother’s birthday is in August as well and I still see that sassy smarty-pants with long pigtails when I look at her. She’s 73 and still zooms around town in her sports car. Ya gotta love ’em!

    Happiness to you both on this, Mrs. B’s natal day!

  32. Happy birthday dear B-M’s Mom! She is absolutely adorable in that photo. What a precious moment captured on film; successful fishing in fabulous socks! How appropriate to have sent her sock yarn.

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