A good home must be made, not bought.
Joyce Maynard
Today, my momma, Vivienne/Vee VanDemark Steele would have been 97 years old. I think I have failed her in absentia. Perhaps that is not quite the right word but it seems to work for me. She left me when Becky was just a baby. I spent the subsequent years just holding my head up and trying to do the next right thing, many of which were probably not.
I have shared so much about my perfect Aunt Julie, my mom's sister, whose house was always a showcase, suitable for a decorating magazine.
Our house, in hind site, was equally wonderful. It was filled with real antiques, many of which my momma saved when her siblings didn't want them..Because they were old. A few examples are the hand-carved shovel and bench painted by my great grandfather. My mom told me the story of the bench's use in the upstairs hall, on Heights Boulevard, so that the 8 kiddoes could sit on it waiting for their turn in the bathroom.
I also remember her teaching me to sew, and together we made my lavender check bedspread and curtains for our house at 1623 Hawthorne Street, in Houston, Texas.
My momma was really a storyteller and she repeated the same stories a lot. Had she not I may not remember them.
She always "threw" a New Year's Eve party and was a smashing cook. I remember having smoked teal that my father, Ross Steele Jr., shot when hunting, probably on my birthday, because it was always the first day of hunting season.
I remember our Christmas table being spread with colorful food displayed on momma's milk glass collection.
All in all I think my momma did a pretty good job and it's time that I thanked her.
Thank you momma. Happy birthday.
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