My mother taught me how to sing. Singing makes me feel at home in my own body. When I am walking, even talking, I can lose track of my body in time and space, but when I sing I feel the sound waves with my whole self. I feel alive, grounded.
My mother taught me know to sew. She spent endless hours in the fabric store with me as I struggled to narrow down my choice of fabric and pattern. She taught me to touch the fabric, feel the weight of it, the texture, the thread count, and match those features with what would fit the garment. She honoured my need for texture and weight to be a good match for my own skin, so I could be more comfortable in my own skin.
My mother taught me how to cherish books. She would sit down with me at the beginning of each University semester, and together we would study the cover, the title, the index. Then, book resting on its binding, the ritual would begin of opening back and front cover, lowering them to the table, holding the center of the book up and gentle stretching the binding, running finger down the page, first left, then right, open to page one and the last page. Repeat. Soon the book was mine, having traced most every page, the book now more easily read without cracking the binding. It was like a sacrement.
Thank you, Bonnie. The time at the sew machine, the music at the piano and learning the information from all of those books are moments I cherish as well.
ReplyDeleteI think you have written about Wyora doing a lot of dining with you when you were a young child. I know she sewed with you, or at least quilted with you. I wonder if she read to and with you before you went to school. She was a Normal School graduate, I think.
DeleteI want to say thank you Bonnie, for reminding me of a powerful writing technique: "I remember ...." Many times when I had writer's block, that little phrase could get me writing again. I will see if I can produce something like that for Mother's Day.
ReplyDeleteI think the phrase, "I remember" is akin to "My mother taught me ...."
ReplyDeleteFor some reason your "my mother taught me", triggered "I remember...", both equally good phrases.
Thank you. In my comment above dining = singing. :) Oh, sweet opportunity to reread, and publish an edit or a retraction.
ReplyDelete