Mom and Dad

     June the 15th was the day my mother was born, She died last September. My father was born on January 2nd and passed away in December of 2003, 6 years and 2 months after he dad a stroke that left him in a wheelchair for the remainder of his life. My mother faithfully took care my Dad after his stroke. Yesterday on June 15th to commemorate my mother's birthday we gathered together and buried our parents. We each cut a locket of our hair and put it in the box with their ashes, then my brother put the box in the ground, covering it and sealing it with a stone that had been engraved with their names and the simple phrase, together forever.
     We never had alot of money growing up, my parents both worked hard, but never made alot of money. My Dad was generous, he was the type of a person who would give the shirt off from his back.  My father often invited someone over to have supper, but my mother never complained, she just cooked a little more.
     Every person has their own memories, but these are mine. Some memories of my father include him cutting my hair, he put a bowl on my head and cut around the edges, it was quite the haircut. I probably resembled the little Dutch boy. Dad tied a string around a loose tooth of mine then tied the other end of the string to the door handle, then proceeded to slam the door to remove that tooth, if my memory serves me correctly I do believe it worked.
     My mother usually did the grocery shopping, but on occasion my father went grocery shopping with us. He put all of the unnecessary items my mother would never buy in the cart, such as potato chips.
     My mother was so poor growing up that she would buy up extra canned goods, my Dad was a carpenter so this worked well, he built her alot of cupboards to store those canned goods in.
     My Dad always made comments about how beautiful my mother was, he was always trying to kiss her. My mother was quite modest and would say, "not in front of the children." But my Dad always managed to get that kiss.
     My mother was our main disciplinarian, but Dad stepped in now and then, especially if we dared to sass our mother. I remember putting on some makeup as a teenager and my mother told me to take it off, I refused. My father came up out of the chair he was sitting in and let me know that if I did not do what my mother requested the consequences were not going to be good for me. Needless to say, I took off the makeup.
      We never really took family vacations although occasionally we took family trips. One such trip we went to New Hampshire. Neither one of my parents read maps very well, not a good thing when you're driving and need that particular ability to get where you're going and home again. Well we did manage to get to our destination, but on the way home my father and brothers went to sleep in the back seat while I happily sat with my Mom in the front seat as she navigated the car. A couple of hours went by, my Dad woke up, we took a rest stop, but where were we? My mother was way off course, instead of being headed back towards Maine we were headed into the White mountains. Let's just say my father took over the rest of the drive home. I don't remember any yelling, but I do remember the map being torn up. I am laughing as I write this.
      If I could sum it all up I would say we were not a perfect family because there are no perfect people, but we were a family. I'll always remember my father cheering me on as I took my first bike ride, picking me up when I wiped out. I'll remember my mother taking care of me when I was ill. I'll remember my parents buying me books to read even though there wasn't much money. I'll remember my mother's encouragement to design and create things. I'll remember my father sitting and playing his guitar and showing me how to play. I'll remember all of the silly songs he made up. We buried our parents, but we didn't bury our memories.