Thanks for the Memories

In response to the DEP weekly prompt 31/52

The Dancing Elephant Prompt was easy.

Recall and share a fond memory.

The execution…not so easy. In fact, when I saw this weekly prompt and wanted to write about it, I printed out the prompt guidelines. On May 8th. And here it is — July 25th — and I’m finally sitting down to write about a fond memory.

I haven’t gotten the title “M.P.” for nothing. Master Procrastinator. Although, to go easy on myself I will admit that this year has been a crazy year and I’m still adjusting to this new and unasked for life — and still dealing with so many issues relating to my better half’s passing. So, I’ll take a pass on the ‘procrastinator’ status and admit to having a life that’s packed edge to edge right now. Next year…I’ll pick that procrastinator title back up.

When I sat in my chair, musing back through different memories, trying to figure out what to write about, I couldn’t decide. So many memories. So many of them treasured.

My mom’s been on my mind a lot this week. She’s been gone since 2020. And I find that as I just hit the lovely 65-mile-marker last month, looking ahead to what I see people are calling ‘the fourth quarter’, I find that my mind is often dashing back to the past. Thinking of things that happened. Being proud of some moments. Being less proud of others. Seeing things that I now wish I would have done differently. Yet also seeing things that I’d do the same way again in an instant.

Knowing that I’d also want a nice picture to share, for inspiration I went to the huge bowl of pictures sitting on the floor behind me in my office. Over the past few months, I’ve been sorting through pictures, putting them into two different tubs for my two boys. After seeing how it was when my mom passed and my better half passed, I don’t want to leave this chore for my boys to sift through years down the road.

The Red Hat Party

My mom loved her parties! Oh my, did she love her parties. And if there was a theme she could use — even better! I don’t know if she had more fun planning them or having them. She could spend weeks and months in deep plans for a get together. And having a house full of people was something she thrived on.

I only have one large plastic bowl holding photos out. I’ve got two more tubs to go through still. And just in this large bowl, I couldn’t tell you how many different parties of Mom’s are represented by pictures. Christmas and birthday get togethers. Holiday bar-b-ques. Potlucks when my brother came to visit from Iowa. A 50’s theme party. That one almost made the cut for this story.

But then I found the Red Hat party picture.

The picture isn’t dated, so I’m not sure exactly when it was taken. Most likely around 2001–2004ish as a guess. The ‘Red Hat thing’ had taken off and ladies were having Red Hat teas and luncheons, and this was right up mom’s alley.

My sister and I? Not so much!

We were much less excited about the whole Red Hat thing than our mother was. We weren’t even old enough to wear the red hats. You had to be over 50 — years old to wear the red hat with purple accessories. We were relegated to the ‘lavender’ range. Not old enough to be in the league of the Red Hatters.

That was okay with us.

We didn’t want to relate to the older crowd anyway.

We were perfectly content to be ‘too young’.

Ha! Now we each WISH we were still in the too young crowd.

Although now that we’re old enough to wear the red hats, I still don’t think you’d catch either of us alive at one of these get togethers! Is it still a thing? I have no idea.

But if this whole red hat tea and luncheon isn’t my favorite activity, why does this rate so high up on my fond memories list?

It’s because it was Mom’s ‘thing’. Yet, my sister and I were still there. At each monthly luncheon she held. At each get together. It was something we did. Mom was in whole hog — but Sue and I were going to support her.

And now that’s she’s gone — we treasure these memories with her. We’re glad that we did what we could do to be there for her in things like this — yes, even if it was her beloved Red Hat Tea. Even if we sometimes caught each other’s eye and rolled our eyes, hoping we didn’t get caught in the gesture.

That’s what we have now — the memories of Mom and our reminiscences of our times together. And those are more precious than a pile of gold sitting in the corner.

Although….if you have a spare pile of gold sitting around that you’d like to pass along, I won’t turn one of those down either!

One nice thing about Dancing Elephants Press prompts is this ‘rule’ of theirs:

Respond to this prompt anytime — there is no time limit.

Never miss a prompt: here’s the list of current weekly Prompts. Go check them out and see if there’s one there calling out to you.

Here’s the memory that Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles shared when she posted this weekly prompt: