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 Lets Talk It Over
Amy Erwin
Managing Editor
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It’s always been interesting to me that some things that I remember about my mother are so different from what my sister, Hallie, remembers. I grew up thinking certain things about her but my sister, just a few years older than I, had a different picture. We had another sister, the oldest of the Erwin Girls, but Bethie died when she was 32. I think that changed my parents a lot but the things that Hallie and I remember differently are mostly things that happened long before 1977 when Bethie died. I was the youngest and admittedly spoiled by the whole gang so surely I have a different picture. It may also be because I was the third daughter and a full ten years younger than Bethie. My parents had done an awful lot of growing up and calming down between the ages of 22 when Bethie was born, 24 when Hallie was born and then 32 when I came along rather unexpectedly!
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I guess in many ways my mother was more like a friend than a mother to me, at least it seems that way to me, especially as we both got older. Not that I didn’t get the mother routine from her when I was a kid…she “fussed me” when I needed it and let me alone to grow (and even screw up) when that was the best thing to do. I remember my sisters telling her to just spank me once in awhile and I wouldn’t do this, that, or the other. But it’s no family secret that I NEVER got spanked once in my entire life. Lord knows I made a million mistakes and it didn’t matter what I did or how I screwed up, she never loved me any less. I guess that’s the thing I remember most about my mother and I know Hallie would feel the same way…in our family there was this unconditional love thing. Didn’t matter what we did, even when they were disappointed in the choices we made, they never withdrew that love.
That idea of unconditional love came from my Daddy’s side of the family. Fortunately my father and his family came along (my parents met building WWII airplanes in Akron, Ohio at the converted Firestone Company plant) and taught my mother about loving families and raising children. As a result we learned the difference between right and wrong but also had the free will to make the wrong choice, and not have to be worried about being loved or not. I think Hallie and I taught our children the same thing.
Now that my parents have passed away and as I said earlier, Bethie is gone too, it’s just Hallie and me (the last Erwin matriarchs) and of course our children and our children’s children! We are a very close- knit family even though some of us are spread across the country. So now it’s all of us that love each other unconditionally; something my mother and father would be so proud of.
Oh and I readily admit that I was spoiled rotten (and certain people would say I still am). My earliest memory is lying in my baby bed with Momie, Daddy, Bethie and Hallie, all leaning over telling me that they loved me. Weird what we remember but the lesson here is to keep in mind that no matter what age your children are…be careful what you say or do because that may be the one thing that sticks with your kids the rest of their lives!
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A publication in conjunction with Donaldsonville Chamber of Commerce www.donaldsonvillecoc.org
