Happy Mother's Day

I can’t help but to think of Mother’s I have never known.  Lilly, Girlie, and Thelma. This certainly is not the first time I have written about them.  

We have spent hours sorting through their simple possessions.  Trying to piece together what they might have considered important. 

Lilly lived a very simple, typical Appalachian life. She had few possessions and even fewer amenities that even in her time were considered basic living standards. Her children were fed and warmed by a simple fireplace in the center of the home.  The original log cabin still visible from the inside.

Lilly lost her only daughter when she was just two months old.  They are buried near each other in the family cemetery on up the hill.

The letters we found in the rubbish of the old house are in safe keeping and tell us so much of her hard lived life.

Truth be told, I still leave offerings of wild-flowers found on property in small glass jars on that same fireplace mantle.  A simple gesture to honor a woman I never met.

Lilly’s sister Girlie lived an easier life in a larger home.  She had a piano and several old hymnals she played from. As a music teacher by trade, I feel a kinship with her. Plus, I love her name! 

Her husband provided for the family by way of the local coal mine and even became the treasurer for the local coal miner’s union.

We had always thought to restore Girlie’s old house; however, an enormous tree that fell coupled with  the local Meth addicts may have changed the feasibility of that project.  I am still holding out hope.

And finally, Thelma.  She was Girlie’s daughter and lived next door to the big house in her 50’s styled ranch home.  She had a love of bric-a-brack!! And flowers!

Thelma passed just over two months after her youngest son passed.

The mirror that hung in her bathroom is the same mirror I painted for the cabin bathroom. 

I wonder if she would have liked all the changes we are making to her house? I somehow think she does.

Happy Mother’s Day Lilly, Girlie, and Thelma.  I hope you are happy with our stewardship of your homes.