Mom’s Coffee Cup
As little girls, our mother is our idol.
We want to spend every minute with her because she is beautiful and loves us unconditionally. That was the case with my mom because she was in her early forties when she had me. She was way beyond the years of immature parenting and could simply let me be the sunshine of her life. She was beautiful with false eyelashes and shoes to match every outfit. She was thin and petite.
When I found the coffee cup in her stuff, memories came flooding back. You see in her working career, you did not take your daughter to work once a year for a special day, it was quite different. She had to work overtime on Saturday, and I would go to her work because she had no other choice. She could not afford a babysitter. I would help her sort and staple papers, and color in my coloring book.
Juanita and Linda
She worked at the Ogden Air Logistics Center, now known as Hill Air Force Base in the F16 division as an Item Manager.
When I was 18 years old and went to work at the Ogden Air Logistics Center, she worked there too. For a brief year, we would go to lunch together and then she finally got to retire.
She worked at a time when it was not acceptable for a woman to be working.
When raises went to men with families and not to single mothers, she never worked less because of that gender discrimination. My mom showed me what hard work was and I am proud to follow in her tradition.
Like some of you, I will be experiencing this Mother’s Day without a mother in my physical presence. I miss my mom terribly, but all it takes is something like her coffee cup to make me realize she is still around me.