This week, David Mcmahon in his Weekend Wandering asked us "Who was the most important person in our childhood?"
Without question I can say that my mother was the most important person in my childhood.
I was born slap bang in the middle of the Second World War, in our living room, where my mother had a bed, so that she could get under the table in case of an air raid. Thankfully there were no air raids while I was being delivered, as I think my mum would have had severe problems getting under the table anyway. Nurse Wright, who was the mid wife, had put on a nice clean apron and as I was born, I splattered her with my first poo! She exclaimed , "Well out of all the babies I have delivered over the years, none have done that to me before!"
We lived in a small industrial town for my early years in Lancashire, which is now called Cheshire! I seem to have a problem with counties and kingdoms changing names!
By the time I could remember anything, the war was over but food rationing was still in force and I can definitely remember us queueing for every item in the shops and also handing in the ration books, and the coupons would be taken out. I never went hungry as my mum used to make delicious omlettes out of egg powder sent over by the Americans. We used to have salad stuff from out of the garden and fruit because by now we were living in a cottage on the edge of the town, with a lovely garden and fields all around us. There was always bread and milk but by todays standards, we had very plain food and not many sweets.
I really loved my Mum and I know that she did her best for my younger brother and me. She taught me to sew and knit and helped me with reading and spelling. She could make a really tasty meal out of nothing! She played the piano fairly well and I loved all the pieces she played, particularly her Chopin and a piece of music that had me spell bound called "Rustle of Spring" by Sinding. I used to ask her to play it over and over again. If I hear the music now, it brings a lump into my throat.
You might think that my dad was away fighting or that he was not living with us, but he was........ he was there. Because he had a Ph.D, he was excused fighting or going down the mines, but he was in the Home Guard and had to guard Runcorn Bridge with a rifle.
However, my Dad was a scientist and was not very good with children. He seemed to be in a world of his own and was very remote. I did not have a good relationship with him, but will leave that story for another time.
For some reason I was an insecure child, and was forever worrying that some thing would happen to my mother. My brother was treated exactly the same as me, but he didn't have any of these worries, so I'm wondering whether I inherited a worrying gene or something! My mother was the same! Some nights I crept out of bed to see if her bag and coat and shoes were still there, just in case she had left. I'm afraid that she did sometimes threaten us with that, as she probably had her hands full with all the problems there were in that particular era. Anyway, I loved her in spite of "the threat" when we were naughty. Children in those days were treated so differently and what we would think of as child abuse today, was quite common then! I thought of it as normal.
You can see from my baby picture that I am looking worried even then!!!!!!!
There were other people who were important to me during my childhood, but Mum was the person I loved most. My own children loved her to bits and I'm sure she lives on in all of us.
I have many of her things scattered about my house and quite often on Mother's Day, I buy a little plant or something to remember her by. I will always remember her Birthday, her Wedding Anniversary and the date she died.
