Ask Mama: The magic of getting to know my mother

I’ve heard it said that there is nothing more magical than a classroom. I suppose there is some truth to that especially when the confines of a classroom aren’t limited to a space comprised of brick walls and a daydreamer’s view of a schoolyard playground. But, after interviewing my Mom, I am convinced that there is nothing more magical than hearing your Mom talk about her childhood.

When I began to interview my Mother I asked her about 7 different questions such as: What was the most valuable lesson you learned from your Mom? What where the qualities and attributes of your Mom? What was your first job? Do you see me in you?  She gave me great answers to each of my many questions, but the magic happened when she called me back the next day and said “Sonya, there was something that I forgot to tell you about.” And I said, oh ok what was that?” She went on to share with me about her Junior and Senior high school experiences. She described how her father moved her and her sister Laura to Marana, Arizona for part of her school year, and then back to Austin for the second half of the year.  This scenario happened again in her senior year, however, in the second half of her senior year in Austin, she ended up being shy just one credit and was unable to graduate with her senior classmates and had to go to summer school. She went on to say that she will never forget her summer school teacher Mr. Pickford  who gathered all the seniors and juniors together and said “ I especially want to honor little miss Mitchell for all of her hard work, because it wasn’t her fault that she couldn’t graduate with her class.” She said “I will never forget that or Mr. W.E. Pickford.

As for me, I will never forget the day my Mom helped me write a summary of the movie “Lady sings the Blues”. My teacher said it was brilliantly written. I made sure she knew that the brilliance came from my Mom. I love you Momma! And thank you for being the best mother ever!

 

Article submitted by Sonya Brookins.

Sonya currently is a certified community health professional in the state of Oregon and the program assistant for a Pre-Apprenticeship program for construction trades.  She is the mother of two grown sons.