BEFORE THEY MET (My mom's story)

My mom grew up in the same general area 
that my dad grew up in. Both of my parents 
and their families were 100% Swedish and 
came over to our country on the big 
boat years earlier from Sweden.

My mother's maternal grandfather was a real character. My mom used to love telling me stories about him with his boat he named "The Lemon", 
for obvious reasons I am sure.

My mother's maternal grandmother was a 
strong woman bearing four children in childbirth
only to lose one of the boys at an early
age to illness.

(picture: my mom's maternal grandmother) 

My mom's mother was a real angel, a real lady and if we were lucky we would hear snippets of "

back in the day" stories from her. 

She grew up towards the end of Victorian times 
and had the grace and manners that only 
that time in history can lay claim to.  She was also very down to earth and loved to work in her garden and paint. An accomplished artist, she was commissioned to do paintings for others.  


My grandmother's loving nature had a tremendous impact on my mom's sincere unconditional love for 
her family and friends.

(picture: my maternal grandmother creating a masterpiece)

My mother's older sister was also a very talented

artist and excelled as a musician as well. She was

known to have been able to take a photograph

and practically reproduce it in watercolors, oils

or other medium. A perfectionist at heart

she had many hobbies and talents. She 
also taught both art and music lessons in her 
home, and developed long term friendships 
with many of her students.

My mother's younger sister is still alive and lives

in the hometown they all grew up in.  Melanie

from "Gone With The Wind" comes to mind

when I think of her. She has the same sweet, 

gentle nature and gives the best gift to those 
that she cares about, and that gift is of herself. 

She unselfishly helps others in need and comforts

those that are hurting. A real friend when a real

friend is needed, but don't let her fool you, like her

sisters and mother she can be tough as nails when 

she makes a stand for something that she believes in. 

(picture: my mom's younger sister with their father)

My mother had a twin brother that due to illness

was taken away from us while he was still

relatively young. He was very talented in music but

was also a professional and very good photographer

that served in our military. One of his God given talents enabled him to play music by ear.

My mom loved telling us stories about her childhood.

Her dad sold insurance so unlike a lot of the

families in those tough times their family was 

financially stable but she never forgot the sacrifices

that everyone had to make.

(picture: my mom's parents)

 One of my mom's discoveries while she was young 
that she often spoke of was that sheets come in colors other than white. For the first time she saw a very beautiful, colorful set of sheets at a well to do friend's home and was amazed that sheets came in different colors.  I believe those colorful sheets had a real impact on my mom and her love for colorful things.

(picture: my mom(L)and her twin brother(R)with older sister standing)

If I were to say she loved tennis, that would be the

understatement of the century. She loved tennis with

a real gusto and actually grew up with a tennis court

across the street. She would talk about the many

hours she spent practicing her backhand and boy

did she ever have a powerful backhand! 

She even believed in equal rights for women as a

child. I have been told that she once wanted to join

a club that some of the neighborhood boys started

and just hated the fact that she was a girl and girls

were not allowed. She begged them and the boys made a deal with her. If she climbed over the fence to

the graveyard and ran into the building that was

housed there, mind you in the dark, she could join.

They couldn't have know what she was made of

when they made that deal. By George she did it!

I was not at all surprised that she did.

She was a fun loving, incredibly curious little girl with a heart of gold and a real keeper 
as the saying goes.

I hope you enjoyed learning

about my mom and her family.\

In the next few days I will post about my mom

and dad meeting and their first date.

Neat photos and stories to come..

Honor your father and mother.

Then you will live a long, full life in

the land the LORD your God will give you.

                                                          EXODUS 20:12 NLT

I am dedicating my blog to my parents

and their beautiful love story

that is just waiting to be told,

this month, all month long.. 

They were married 

64 years ago in

February.

Please check the previous posting

for earlier parts of this story