Through her Daughter's Eyes

{I asked one of the Official Sisters of the Hyperion Institute (Elby) to do the Top ten list today for Mom's birthday. This is what she came up with}

Top 6 Favorite Meals my Mother makes:

My mom is a good cook, but not one of those mothers that slaves over a meal and makes a point about being a great cook. Her food is good under miraculous circumstances. She’ll call home from work, ask me to tell her what’s in the freezer or the barren cabinets (the same cabinets I had been scrounging all day), give me a few instructions and suddenly BAM! Dinner for six. Here are some things I remember her making that stand out to me even now.

#6 Macaroni and Cheese -Even when we hadn’t been grocery shopping in ages, and we kids were home in the summer eating all the food, we usually had Macaroni and cheese. My sister and I could both make it by the time we were four, but it was mountains better when my mom made it. I don’t think she ever realized how highly we praised her for this skill.

#5 Breakfast -Making breakfast for dinner is the greatest idea, and it was always great when my mom treated us to this. She could give you a hard boiled egg, cut up with a hint of butter and you would think the clouds parted and heaven smiled down upon you. Convincing her that I am the one that DOESN’T like onions in my eggs is a routine as she rarely gets food aversions matched up with the right child, but still scrumptious. My dad shows his flair off by giving us his special orange juice, made in the blender. Mmm breakfast.

#4 Chicken Stuffing -This is a dish with rice on the bottom, then chicken breast, then stuffing all covered in a delicious cream of chicken soup. Its so good I believe we made it for Thanksgiving one year (somewhat blasphemous). This meal has united us as a family.

#3 Tuna Salad -This is once again a case where my mother makes something regular, that most people can make, but it is so much better when she would make it. I would try on my own and ask her for directions. I was always so surprised that she never needed to measure anything, or even worried about having all the important ingredients like celery or grapes. It was always great.

#2 Party Mix -This might not seem like a meal, but it is the way we eat it. My mom makes Party Mix (a.k.a. Chex Mix) usually once a year on New Year’s Eve. There’s a giant pan in the oven roasting nuts, cereal, deliciousness, and she usually looks the other way when she asks us to stir it for her (this involves pilfering a cup for personal consumption, even though we are supposed to save it).

#1 Shrimp Curry -This is bar none the best meal I could ever want, and the best thing my mother makes. Some of you have heard of the glorious mountain of rice, the shrimp curry base, then the plethora of toppings (chopped bacon, mandarin oranges, peanuts, tomato, hard boiled egg, bananas, coconut). I know what you’re thinking; it seems rice and curry wouldn’t go well with this assortment of condiments, but the combination will leave you staggering. Write to her and ask to come over the next time she serves it. [Hyperion’s Note: Mom made this last night, and it’s still as good as Pirates doing Shakespeare]

Top Ten times my mother ever saved my life

#10 Giving me my own room -I had my own room once my eldest brother went away to college, but before then were ten of the hardest years of my life sharing a room with my sister. Those of you who knew my sister when she was younger know this is not an easy topic to discuss. We fought like cats in a sack constantly, and I always felt I DESERVED my own place. In the fourth grade my mom turned a kind ear to my rants on the subject, and turned the upstairs den into My Room. It didn’t last long as we moved shortly after. Also it was not ideal: there was a section of the wall that was open and overlooking the living room, and the bathroom that connected to the den also connected to the master bedroom. Still, it was my sanctuary and very important to me and she let me have it.

#9 Planning my graduation party -My mom gets excited about my graduation, my senior pictures, my awards ceremonies, things we all roll our eyes about when our mothers make a big deal out of our accomplishments. I never felt better, though, than at my Graduation/18^th Birthday party when she decorated in entire room in a massive picture collage of me. My friends and relatives could not stop ladling attention on me! Her friends from church came, showing me with gifts, and the party even included a limo ride. I didn’t expect all that or deserve it.

#8 Ordering my cap and gown for my college graduation -I am nothing if not a procrastinator. I seem to have even more trouble when something needs to be taken care of. During my senior semester of school I was burdened with classes, job interviews, parties and socializing, and all those pesky details like ordering a cap and gown for graduation. I missed the first deadline by about a month; luckily for me so did half the senior class. They extended the deadline, but it was still hard for me to get on top of it. I gave her the information and she made sure I got it.

#7 Getting me my first job -I was so frustrated with my mother when she came back from the mall one day telling me she had talked to the owner of a candy store and might have found me a job. Looking back on it now, after job hunting on my own, I realized what an incredible hook-up that was. I got a job I stayed at for more than a year without having to sell myself, to look scared yet determined as I inquire to the store owner if he is hiring, all that. AND it was at a CANDY STORE.

#6 Bringing in barbeque chicken and southern style food for a class project -My honors English class in the tenth grade assigned a book for each of us to read and then present on one day in class. I moved to the school after the selections so I was assigned Absolam, Absolam! I don’t know how many of you have read Faulkner, but this is not the book to introduce you to him. There’s a streaming narrative, characters you can’t keep straight, especially if you put it off and have to read all 350 pages in three days. I had an entire class period to discuss a book I was clueless on. I sold my mom the idea of her making a barbecue meal for my class while I would come up with costumes for them all to get them in the “feel” of the book. It totally worked. I dressed them up, we feasted on food, and I had about 7 minutes to give the class an overall gist of the book (aided by my English teacher, who seemed to forget during her second plate of barbeque chicken that she should not have been helping me).

#5 Bribing the DMV -When I moved to Ohio I was sort of lost in the shuffle when it came to getting my license. I already had a learner’s permit, but Ohio law says you need to hold an Ohio permit for another six months and take Driver’s Ed. This was the worst news I could hear. She convinced the DMV to waive the six month waiting period and let me get my license upon completing Driver’s Ed. She brought in muffins to the DMV to seal the deal. That’s one cool lady.

#4 Bringing my cats to school for my speech on animals -I was new to the school and my speech teacher was a real piece of work. I knew having my cats there would be excessive but it would help distract from how nervous I was, and it meant a lot to me. I didn’t convey this to my mom, I just asked that she round them up, put them in carriers, bring them to school, take time out of her day, and deal with their disgruntlement at being caged and brought to a high school. I had no doubt she would do it, and neither did she.

#3 Helping me move out of college -I hate packing, and I was out of town right before graduation for Senior Week in Florida. As soon as we got back we had department parties, graduation speeches, etc. I came home at 3:00 am on graduation night instead of staying out with my friends because I had not finished packing. Instead of packing all night like I had planned, I fell asleep and woke up moments before my family was to arrive to move me out. Luckily they were a few hours late, but there was still so much to do. I had five roommates and all of them had moved out earlier. This left me to clean the entire place. My mom came in and took charge of the situation like only a mother could. She kept me upstairs packing while my siblings carried my stuff to the car; she packed my entire kitchen and cleaned it for me, and stayed the course until my four hours of work became less than two.

#2 Anytime she ever brought me anything ever -One of the benefits of my mother staying at home for our childhood, or working part time at our church, was that she was always accessible. Anytime I was sick she could come get me. More importantly, she brought me things I forgot. I would say a low estimate of how often she bailed me out would be eighty-seven times. Permission slips, lunch money, homework, my red shirt for our talent show line dance—whatever it was, she was a super hero in saving my life. She was never reproachful for my forgetfulness. She never chided me that this would be the last time she helped me out, or even told me I needed to be more responsible. It was a safety net that I routinely benefited from.

#1 Sharing her car with me ever since I could drive -Not every teenager gets a car from their parents when they start driving, and I knew I didn’t have the money to buy my own. There was still plenty of room to feel relative deprivation however, as most of my friends had their own car. She gave me a key to her car and told me we could share it. I got to drive to school just about every day and go wherever I needed or wanted, while she bummed a ride from my dad and did without. I never really showed my gratitude to her, especially considering the fits I threw whenever I couldn’t drive, but this was a big sacrifice on her part. It gave me autonomy and freedom. It gave me and my sister a time to bond, just us kids going to school each day. It gave me friends (when you have a car, you are beloved). Thanks, mom.