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Friday, August 23, 2013

In Memory of Mother

Marjorie Pauline Lenfest
February 28, 1934 - August 17, 2013

Mother is a transplanted Mainiac (or Mainer) -- her heart was always in Maine and she enjoyed returning to her home state. She never adjusted to the heat of Texas and was happiest in cold weather – the colder the better. She also had a passionate interest in the history of England.

She showed her love through an intense sacrificial service and the showering of gifts. She would drop anything for one of her kids or grandkids. She was deeply devoted to family. She also often welcomed and accepted extended members of the family such as parents of in-laws (and out-laws). She loved passionately and equally hated passionately. She had a hard life; but, she did the best with what she had.

She celebrated events with passion and adored holidays. She created the most awesome birthday parties for each child of hers. She made many wonderful Easter baskets. If any one of us kids won a simple award or a medal, there would be a celebration of some kind. She always desired to attend special events such as recitals, graduations and confirmations for each of her grandchildren.


She would make trips with the family to the beach as well as camping in spite of the fact she did not care to do either. She wanted to make her kids happy and knew that we all loved Garner State Park, going to Galveston and even making day trips to area parks with picnics. My best memories of her are with baggy long sleeved shirt, long pants and a big floppy hat slowly walking along the shoreline looking for sharks teeth.

She was an avid crafter and seamstress. She sewed many wonderful dresses when I was very young and sometimes would make matching outfits for my dolls.. My favorite memory is when we had to come up with a costume or outfit as a kid and have the classmates guess who or what we were. My favorite character at the time was Laura Ingalls of the Little House on the Prairie book series. She modified a pattern and whipped out that best dress the mimicked the era of those days. I adored that dress.

She was a die-hard cross stitcher. She created the most gorgeous wedding samplers for each of her children and a few grandchildren. She also knitted and crocheted. I believe her favorite was making hairpin lace afghans.

She taught herself how to cook and had a natural instinct for what goes together well. She made up a few recipes and often changed existing ones to make them even better. She wanted to do it all and accepted no help until her later days as it was another way of her showing love to each one of us.

She loved music and would often have it playing in the house as she could not stand silence. You would find her singing (which was gawd-awful – even this deaf girl knew it was horrid singing) and you would sometimes see her really get into the music and dance a little. Even when she was failing, she would rest her arms on the edge of the sink and just bop around a little and sing her heart out. She loved the old-timey Gospel songs such as the Old Rugged Cross and Amazing Grace.

I also have wonderful memories of mother with her firstborn grandchild (until she was about the age of six) singing their hearts out whenever we were on the road. They sang “Oh My Darling, Clementine” so many times that I actually got sick of the song. Both sang so badly off key; but, they were so happy, joyous and did not have a care in the world in spite of making others cringe.

She was an die-hard cribbage player. She rarely said no to anyone who asked to play a game. I remember as a child asking her to play late Fridays and Saturdays and we would play into the wee hours of the morning. She also loved to read books – mostly of the horror and mystery genre. So, she would read a page or two while I’d shuffle cards and then we’d play another round.
Mother, I know you are in a better place now. I Love you.

They are all gone away,
The house is shut and still,
There is nothing more to say.

—Edwin Arlington Robinson

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Blogging Break

I finally mustered up the energy to let you all know that I have taken a blogging break. I do not know when I will return; but, it is my hope to return soon. My focus for now is 1) mustering up energy to do chores so that the house do not go to pot, 2) my health and 3) most importantly of all, my Dan -- He is the best ever!

Thank you for your patience.