12. Wooden Tulip Season

 Reason #12: She settled for wooden tulips.

One of your favorite flowers, tulips never seemed to fair well amongst the wind, children, cats, and dogs.

















Thus, you were forced to settle for wooden ones, though, according to my memory, they didn't fair much better under the conditions.









Even though real tulips were rare, I have also grown to love them, and thankfully the city I have grown to love and call home, Chicago, does too.












It's as if the city herself beckons Momma to visit!

11. Lord, forgive us our fashion trespasses.

Reason #11: You used to make us wear matching clothes.
Repeat, you used to make us wear matching clothes.

We look like a foreign exchange family awkwardly posing with a local.

(From L to R): Patsy, Chuck, Holly, Ed, and Cousin Chad.

10. A vice by any other name would taste as sweet.

Reason #10: The foods the will forever remind me of you: A pictorial.

The before

AND

The After

   
The big decision:
                 

 or

Easter: Cadbury Cream Eggs

The map that allowed Holly to ruin Christmas...again...and again.

An oldie, but a damn goodie.

A special treat -- mainly a reward.

9. Clarinda Mustangs and Shenandoah Cardinals

Reason #9 - SHS Teacher? CHS Mom?

The infamous $70 Banana Hammock
purchased by H.C. O'Hara
at the Clarinda Alumni Event
Auction raising money for my mom.

It began while I was in middle school. You began buying those -- no, not just buying, you began having specially made sweatshirts created advertising that you were a Clarinda teacher, but your children went to arch rival Shenandoah. Each fall brought a brand new mutant hybrid, boasting a new confusing play on Clarinda Cardinals and Shenandoah Mustangs gear. These mash-ups were worn to every Clarinda Cardinals vs. Shenandoah Mustangs game until after I graduated. 

Thankfully, except for silly moments during adolescence, I was never embarrassed by them or even threatened by the notion of sharing your affections with your students. You were always a doting mother, and I was always blessed with the ability to understand and accept your eccentric ways. As I have grown older, I realize that I, too, am a hopeless romantic. I love the big gestures -- the cheesy gifts with a story behind them, like the $70 banana hammock purchased at the Clarinda fundraiser in your honor. I was merely mentioning in passing that I had been wanting one -- I didn't mean that one specifically. See! I'm even attracted to other people who communicate through figurative language speaking the language of love. 

And as a teacher now myself, I've come to realize how significant those gestures were to your students. In fact, that simple act may have given a handful of your students reassurance that at least one person was there to support them, and that was well worth it.

The Banana Hammock Culprits
(From L to R standing behind my Momma, Patsy Martin):
Emily Josephson, H.C. O'Hara, Chuck D. Martin, and
my father, Ed Martin.

8. I've always been a bit of a fruit...fanatic!!!!

This look exactly like the old Hy-Vee.

#8. Momma gave me my love of all things fruity!

My godmother, Shirley, used to comment, "I never had any trouble taking Chuck through the candy or cookie aisles. He never wanted any of that. But if I walked down the produce aisle, it'd cost me a fortune!" Candy was something we had for special events, but the real show stopper for snack, dessert, or any meal was fruit. Summers, thanks to swim team, meant we spent many a hot day cooling off with with iced tea and fresh fruit.

My favorite fruit, the nectarine, is a fruit that many people I talk to have never even tried. I credit my momma for making me a healthier eater as a child -- to this day, though the sweet tooth did come with age, I can still replace the dessert with fruit.

7. Songs are just poetry set to music.

The Seventh Reason I love my Momma is for a song that has always made her smile.

#7 This song will always remind of Momma at her happiest -- apparently, it makes a lot of other people happy too: Friends in Low Places by the incomparable Garth Brooks. And, because you might want the original version, here's that one: Friends in Low Places. Sing it loud and proud.

6. Back to Bed Reason #6:We always sleep better.

Sleep, I could never get enough of it. I can sleep entire weekends away and reduce summer vacations to countable hours. Sleep can provide necessary distance from mistakes, bad news, or feelings of helplessness. It has become my paradise and my hell -- as it is the place I tend to go when depressed or upset. It's not hard to find where I got this attraction to sleep -- Momma has the very same one. And after today's arrival of the new Tempur-Pedic Mattress -- It's going to be even more tempting to sleep away the blues...or Tuesday.

5. I've run out of things to write about. NOT! is #5

NOT! For most of us, it was a fad. For you, my beloved Momma, it was one of the greatest things to hit spoken language since the contraction or the misuse of the word "hopefully." Who cares if by the time you caught on, we weren't really using it anymore? Holly and I decided anything that made you that happy couldn't be all bad. In fact, I think you even used it the last time I was home. You keep doing you, Momma.

4. Reason #4 The Folklore of the Prayer List

1. Chuck Martin

2. Issaid Toby 

3. Onthee St. John Sr.

4. P. Ray Erlist II

5. Chuck Martin

It's true. My friends have always joked that because I'm such a troublemaker, you have kept my name permanently on the prayer list not just once, but twice -- just to be sure. I couldn't really deny that to be true, especially considering Holly and I would always point out the offenses that would automatically place one of us on that prayer list over the other sibling. As I've grown older, I find it comforting to think I might have had an official piece of real estate on such an important list to both my mother and grandmother. Even if I wasn't written formally on the list, I'm certain I was in both sets of prayers.  

3. But, Where is Reason Number 3?

Reason #3:
The Animals of Farmer Jones remains one of my favorite stories to this day. Only Momma could read the voices, each animal with perfect balance of stress and curiosity in their strange animal voices. The simplicity of the book never bothered me, I guess. I was getting the show. A barnyard full of characters who still feel familiar and wonderful even today in my memories. Thank you, Momma.

2. Reason #2: The Bloody-Noser

Momma couldn't have hurt a fly had she tried.

      It wasn't Mike Tyson nor George Foreman. It wasn't even Rick Marshman -- the red-headed bully who lived up the street from Grandma and Grandpa. Nope, it wasn't Dad, or even my big sister, Holly. The honor of giving me my first (and only, by the way) bloody nose was none other than you, Momma. There I was on the couch enjoying Saturday morning cartoons while you sat in your rocking chair and chatted with me. Suddenly, one of my sarcastic barbs sent you into action as you pounced on me like a cat. I remember being so startled that my body contorted and my knee popped my nose. The best part was when I was holding the tissue to stop the bleeding while comforting my very distraught mother, who through tears and wails explained, "I just wanted to rough house with you like your dad does!" I love my bloody-noser of a mother.

1. Reason to Love Momma #1: Best Advice I've Ever Been Given

Momma,

     I do not even know if you remember the conversation. We had it in one of our family vans on the way home from this or that in town. You were patiently and devoutly listening to another of my diatribes about some drama I was having with a "supposedly nice" girl at school. When I finished, you said, "I have learned to not trust anyone who says they are a good or nice person." You paused for a bit as I processed what you were saying. "A person who is really good or nice wouldn't need to tell you," you continued, "you'd just know. Just like a person of faith doesn't need to tell you -- you'll see them living it." Through the years, I have met many people who make similar false claims, and just as you warned -- they were not to be trusted. Thanks to your advice, though, I was always a step ahead of them.

                                                                                                                                             Chuck D.

Introduction to the Ode

Momma,

My mother and I at Waubonsie State Park. 

This simple blog is meant to be a place for you to come and find our stories. Within these stories, I hope to point out the vast number of ways I have grown to love and respect you...as well as develop a sense of humor for the rest of our stories. It is my hope that some will make you proud, others will make you cry, a few might make you laugh, but each and every entry should help you feel the love from your youngest all the way in Chicago.   
                                         Love, Chuck