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I thought a lot about my mother this past Mother's Day.
I would have liked to have taken her to brunch, spend some time at her home visiting with her and saying Happy Mother's Day once again.
I have not had that honor for several years now. My mother is no longer with us and I miss her.
Someone asked me the other day if she would like the new Green Movement. After all, they said, her generation was part of the problem.
I beg to differ.
Mon washed diapers. She did not purchase disposables and toss them in the garbage.
Milk was obtained right from our cows and put in a cooler in the kitchen. We always had cold milk at any time of the day.
If we had lived in town, we would have gotten milk from the local dairy. They used bottles that they picked up after use, washed them, and reused them.
Mom did not use a clothes dryer. She hung clothes on the line most of the year and in the spare room off the kitchen when it was too cold outside.
When we were in town and thirsty we drank from a fountain instead of using a plastic bottle.
She had dad teach me to shave with a double edge razor, one that you put new blades in when it got dull rather than tossing plastic in a garbage can.
We had one TV in the house and two phones, one upstairs and one downstairs. If we would have had a single level home we would have had one phone.
She shook the rugs outside. Very seldom did she use a vacuum cleaner.
She had us ride our bikes to town. She was not a taxi service, using gas she didn't need to.
She cut her own vegetables, not purchasing the frozen kind and she stirred and blended with a big spoon. No needless kitchen appliances for her.
I guess you could call her and others of her generation pioneers in the green movement.
And the neat thing was she and others didn't really know it.
Thanks mom....I miss you.