A birthday poem in honor of my mother!

Mother is 80

80th birthdayOn August 2, 2018, we celebrated our mother’s 80th birthday. At her party, I read this tribute. Of course, there are lots of personal references here, but I thought you might appreciate it anyway. First, though, you should know that Mother’s grandkids call her Gangi pronounced “gan-gee” with two hard G’s as in “Gloria” or “Grace.” Also, my grandfather, her dad, was a math whiz who could do complex mathematics faster than a calculator. More explanations below. Enjoy!

A Birthday Celebration Poem in Honor of the World’s Best Mother!

Gloria Mitchell, Happy birthday to you!
80 years old? That just can’t be true!

(But if her daddy were here he would write an equation
And tell us for sure, “It’s time for celebration!”)

It was 1938 when she came into the world:
The youngest of five, a sweet daddy’s girl.

A giggly youngster, an award-winning speaker,heinz pickle pin
A signing teenager for her Sunday School Teacher. (1)

She turned 18 and headed to college.
Mercer provided all kinds of knowledge.

Papa spied her on campus, and thought she was cute.
So he took her sign class, and began his pursuit.

Harold had in his hand a Heinz pickle pin; (2)
And when Gloria accepted, it just tickled him.

In 1960, they went and got married.
Then headed up north to get seminaried.

Dawn and Aileen, and Hal, their brother
Made Papa a daddy and Gangi a mother.

They ministered together, preacher and wife,
Dealing with deacons, and other church strife.

Gangi handled it all, and managed the stresses;
But she wore pants to church, forget fancy dresses. (3)

In each of their churches, each town where they roamed,
Gangi converted every house to a home.

Wherever we were, she worked her home magic . . .
Even at Crescent, where Hal’s lizards went spastic. (4)

She held lots of jobs, she filed lots of folders; (5)
But the best job she had? Romanian head-holder. (6)

Actually, the job she does as our parent?
That is the one where she is truly inerrant.

Our birthday parties were best of the best.
And our Easter Egg hunts? They topped all the rest.

She handmade our clothes, on her Singer machine,
Like the best cowboy suit that you’ve ever seen.

She made Easter dresses with purses to match,mother playing cards
And suits for our Daddy–she made by the batch.

Plus, that isn’t all, our friends also choose her
(Until they play games and end up the losers)!

Once we were five, then each said I do:
Jay, Mike, and Kim, and soon grandkids too.

We were up to 16 by 2004,
And in 2018, we added one more.

“You text us all daily, with Bitmoji flair
And we know every morning you lift us in prayer.

So, despite how it looks to everyone here,
It truly is your 80th year.

We try (but we can’t) to name all the lessons;
We cannot even start to count all the blessings . . .

Of having you as mother, aunt, friend, and wife.
We celebrate you and your wonderful life.”

80th birthday

 

Questions? Answers:

  1. Mother learned sign language so she could interpret the Sunday school lesson for a friend of hers who was deaf. Later, she taught a non-credit sign language class at Mercer University. Daddy really did sign up for it so he could meet her.
  2. Daddy was not in a fraternity so he could not pin his girlfriend in the traditional way. Heinz pickles to the rescue!
  3. Back in the 70’s, Mother was the first woman in her church to wear a pants suit to Sunday services.
  4. When we moved to North Myrtle Beach, while we waited for the builders to finish our house, we rented a place in Crescent Beach. There were lizards. My brother was 12. Enough said?
  5. Mother is an excellent office manager!
  6. Once, Mother and Daddy went on a mission trip to Romania. A dentist went along as well. On site in Romania, they did not have a reclining chair for patients who visited the dentist, so they had to use a straight chair. Mother sat behind the patients who leaned back and rested their heads in the palms of her hands while the dentist completed the exam.

By Aileen MItchell Lawrimore

Aileen Mitchell Lawrimore is a mother x 3, wife x 35 (years not men), minister, speaker, writer, retreat leader, and lover of beagles and books. She has a lot to say.