I knew it all along. All these years, it hovered in the back of my mind, a sneaking suspicion that I couldn’t elude, but concrete confirmation came to me last week on March 17th, 2010 as I bustled around; reminding my children to wear green, lest they get pinched- my mother had no respect for holidays other than the ones she liked, Christmas, Valentines, Thanksgiving and Easter.
On other celebratory days, we were thrown to the wind. Mom never reminded me to wear green. My story is a sad one, I mean really, how many St. Patrick’s Day pinchings can a poor, bespectacled girl endure, while frantically shrieking, “You can’t pinch me, my eyes are green, look my eyes are green?”
That tired old mantra never worked and I was pinched mercilessly. She never bought me leprechaun socks or July 4th hair bows. Sure, we had fireworks, but do they really say, “I’m patriotic!” as well as an outfit fashioned from the United States flag? I think not. We never made homemade Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria boats to float in the tub in honor of Columbus Day. President’s Day slipped by with nary a construction paper top hat to mark the occasion, and I’m sure that this lack of proper celebration has had some large influence on my lack of creative abilities. Now, other than cautioning my children to wear green, I am quite unsure about how to properly celebrate these lower holidays, and thus we propagate the non-celebration standard to a new generation.
I suppose that I will just have to content myself with remembering her spectacular Easter baskets, extravagant Christmases, the loaded Thanksgiving table and elaborate Valentines Dinners, holding those memories dear, while letting go of the negative. Who needs a paper top hat anyway? Laters.
You know Wackers and TG&Y didn't sell leprechaun socks or 4th of July hairbows. You were doing good to find a pair of socks that matched,remember my laundry pile with 7 kids, and my hair bow ribbon collection consisted of pink, pink, and maybe white and that was during the flag burning days, I never burned one but we couldn't blatently flaunt a flag in anyones face could we. We didn't make top hats but we did make grapevine wreaths, I sent the boys to the woods to collect the vines, what were you doing, I think reading a book, anyway we made them and took them to Safeway and they sold them for us, soooooo anyway I'm sorry you never had a tophat. Teach your children how to make them......Oh, yeah, you don't even have sissors or a glue gun,craft paint or any black paper and you don't craft, you were reading when I was trying to give that fine lesson......You're a hoot and a great writer.
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