Athens Speedway plus dirt tracks: Happy Mother's Day!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Daddy and Mama in their new Jim Walter home.

My Christian, classy mother who makes sure that every little dart in her blouse is pressed and that every hair is in place, and doesn't leave home without lipstick, surprised me to no end last weekend by telling my husband, Thomas, all of her memories of Saturday nights at the Athens Speedway. She told him of her dressing us up and washing our hair, only to come home with our clean clothes and hair caked in an inch of red dirt! My heart leaped for joy when I heard her using phrases like “the modifieds” and “the jeolopies!”

I remembered those things but I also remembered that on Sunday mornings we slept in, which today would never happen since God got in the middle of our lives when Mama made a commitment to Him during our high school years! However, it didn’t stop my first date ever from being to the Athens Speedway and my first date with my ex-husband was to the Athens Speedway.

Even though the Athens Speedway is gone, we made up for it on Sunday afternoons around my grandmother’s TV. She was the first in the neighborhood to hook up to cable so our family gathered around her TV to watch all the NASCAR races. Everyone lived within a rock’s throw from each other except my sister moved about 20 miles away but still close enough to come over and watch a race. My grandmother is gone now. My Dad died in 2008 and like I said, today is his birthday. We miss him so much. He loved all the Georgia racers - Bill Elliott, David Ragan, Reed Sorenson. He’d probably be pulling for Chase Elliott today. We are also missing my cousin, Wayne, who was like a brother. Dale Earnhardt was his favorite. My ex-husband died last year. His favorite was Bill Elliott and Kasey Kahne. Racing on Sundays just isn’t the same. I haven’t had TV in nearly 2 years. I dated a man I met at the Athens Speedway reunion in 2010. Once, I checked in at the Best Western and watched the Richmond race by myself.

My sister and I are grown and married with our own children and my mother still says she just can’t believe she had raised two daughters who are race fans! Mama may see me as a little different these days. I can slow down and smell the roses! I suppose that when I really got serious about my life, some of the hobbies and past times started falling away and I got a taste of what I really loved – the outdoors, gardening, hummingbirds, deer in the back yard, cooking, and loving Thomas!

Mother mother in the middle with Wayne beside her. Little girl from next door.

Here’s something going around on Facebook that brought me to tears. Dedicated to my mother:

Letter from a Mother to a Daughter: "My dear girl, the day you see I’m getting ...old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I’m going through. If when we talk, I repeat the same thing a thousand times, don’t interrupt to say: “You said the same thing a minute ago”... Just listen, please. Try to remember the times when you were little and I would read the same story night after night until you would fall asleep. When I don’t want to take a bath, don’t be mad and don’t embarrass me. Remember when I had to run after you making excuses and trying to get you to take a shower when you were just a girl? When you see how ignorant I am when it comes to new technology, give me the time to learn and don’t look at me that way... remember, honey, I patiently taught you how to do many things like eating appropriately, getting dressed, combing your hair and dealing with life’s issues every day... the day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I’m going through. If I occasionally lose track of what we’re talking about, give me the time to remember, and if I can’t, don’t be nervous, impatient or arrogant. Just know in your heart that the most important thing for me is to be with you. And when my old, tired legs don’t let me move as quickly as before, give me your hand the same way that I offered mine to you when you first walked. When those days come, don’t feel sad... just be with me, and understand me while I get to the end of my life with love. I’ll cherish and thank you for the gift of time and joy we shared. With a big smile and the huge love I’ve always had for you, I just want to say, I love you... my darling daughter. "