Love at First Sight

By Jeanette Larson

Winnifred Winnie Emmons, while working at the local diner, is about to cross paths with a man whose life has been turned upside down by the tragic death of his wife and mother of his four children. Little does he know that the precision with which this young woman can clean, cook, can, and garden will one day influence the lives of his little darlings. Love at First Sight is a compilation of stories that tell of the love that grew between a grieving widower and his young bride and, most of all, tell of the love that grew and was demonstrated in the care and nurturing of his precious children. This book was inspired during the last days of this heroines life as she began to pass out of realitys grasp and into the arms of Alzheimers. Her oldest daughter, now her caregiver, trying to hold on a little longer to the moments of this angels life, began writing a tribute to her, which soon became this book.
Winnifred was twenty-three when she married George Johnsen. She was full of life and joy and bursting at the seams to care for her new family. She devoted every hour of her day into keeping her home spotless and organized, filled with the fragrance of homemade breads, fresh jams, jellies, and pickles. She hung out lines of wash until they were crisped by the sun. She ironed pillowcases and curtains until they could stand on their own. She put the same energy into her children, keeping them bathed, clean, and curled, lovingly disciplining and teaching them, bringing them into adulthood with a firm hand but always with love. Four children were a handful, but from the first time she saw them, it was love at first sight.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 26, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483697222

Book preview

Copyright © 2013 by Jeanette Larson.

ISBN:                     Softcover                        978-1-4836-9721-5

                               Ebook                             978-1-4836-9722-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 09/24/13

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

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A collection of heartwarming and inspiring true stories

based on a young woman who took on

unimaginable responsibility, gave unconditional love,

and most of all, opened her heart,

influencing the lives of four children forever.

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black.jpg CONTENTS black.jpg

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTIONS

PART ONE | MOTHER AND FATHER

black.jpg A Young Love and a Young Family

black.jpg A Double Dose of Blessings

black.jpg Another Child? A Heart-Wrenching Decision

black.jpg Saying Good-bye

black.jpg A Grandmother’s Love

black.jpg A Father Doing His Best

black.jpg And the Cans Came Tumblin’ Down

black.jpg Poor Mr. Jiggs

PART TWO | MOM AND DAD

black.jpg A New Love Begins

black.jpg The Girl behind the Co unter

black.jpg Guess What?

black.jpg The Courtship Begins

black.jpg Meeting the Children

black.jpg Family Concerns

black.jpg Wedding Day at Last!

PART THREE | OUR GRANDPARENTS

black.jpg The Johnsens—Dad’s Parents

black.jpg What Mom Lost on the Way to Grandma’s House

black.jpg Fond Memories of Grandma Johnsen’s House

black.jpg More about Dad’s Family

black.jpg Uncle Louie and Aunt Margaret—Mom and Dad’s Best Friends

black.jpg The Hansens—Our Birth Mother’s Parents

black.jpg The Emmonses—Our Stepmother’s Parents

PART FOUR | OUR HOUSE ON THE AVENUE

black.jpg Mom’s Special Saying

black.jpg Mr. Best’s Compliment

black.jpg What Made Our House a Home

black.jpg Our Kitchen—Full of Great Times and Great Memories

black.jpg Our Pantry—Not Just for Food but Home Brew Too!

black.jpg The Trapdoor—What Lay Beneath?

black.jpg Our Tight Sleeping Arrangements

black.jpg Uninvited Little Critters

black.jpg Come On In!

black.jpg Hurrying Home for Lunch

black.jpg Keeping the Grass Green—Not an Easy Feat

black.jpg Deliveries and More on the Avenue

black.jpg Our Beloved Pets—Corky and Dandy

PART FIVE | OUR NEIGHBORS ON THE AVENUE

black.jpg Mom’s Best Friend and Their Special Lunches (and the Mystery of the Gritty Birthday Cake!)

black.jpg Lighting the Jewish Lady’s Oven

black.jpg The Black Jesus

black.jpg Our Frugal Mom—Bones, Gypsies, and Chicken Feet!

PART SIX | NEVER AN IDLE MOMENT

black.jpg Mom—the Perfect Housekeeper

black.jpg Butter, Mom, Real Butter?

black.jpg A Close Call

black.jpg Haircut Time

black.jpg Our Clothes

black.jpg Spring-Cleaning—What a Job!

black.jpg Sewing—Not Mom’s Favorite Thing

black.jpg Christmas Shopping with Mom

black.jpg Always There for Us

black.jpg Laundry and Ironing—a Weekly Chore

black.jpg Mom—a Good Citizen Too!

PART SEVEN | OUR GARDENS

black.jpg Cooking Creatively with the Bounty from Our Gardens

black.jpg Our Other Gardens

black.jpg The Joy of Canning—and the Assembly Line!

PART EIGHT | MOM—WHAT A FABULOUS COOK

black.jpg Our Christmas Cookie Ritual

black.jpg Helping Mom Cook—What a Special Treat

black.jpg A Precious Memory in the Kitchen

black.jpg Cleaning Our Plates—or No Dessert!

black.jpg Mom and Dad’s Home Brew

PART NINE | SPECIAL TREATS—HOLIDAYS AND MORE

black.jpg A Thanksgiving Story

black.jpg Getting Ready for Christmas

black.jpg The Mystery Christmas Gift—for Adults Only!

black.jpg Bonnie’s Temptation

black.jpg Jeanette’s Pecan Pilfering

black.jpg Mom Always Made Us Feel Special

PART TEN | PLAYTIME AND ENTERTAINMENT

black.jpg Our Spectacular Front Porch

black.jpg Playing Dress-Up

black.jpg Passing the Time with Fun Neighborhood Activities and Games

black.jpg Bonnie’s Big Mouth!

black.jpg Exploring with a Child’s Imagination

black.jpg Free at Last!

black.jpg Mom’s Special Sayings, Poems, and Songs

black.jpg Always Good Times

black.jpg Creating Our Own Theatrics

black.jpg A Musical Education on Our Upright Piano

black.jpg Going to the Movies—a Treat for Us All

black.jpg A Winter Sleigh Ride—Not!

black.jpg Our Family Picnics—What Fabulous Times!

black.jpg Gene’s Fourth of July Joyride

black.jpg Running for Cover

black.jpg Camping—Not Such a Fun Time

PART ELEVEN | TRYING TIMES, DISCIPLINE, AND SPECIAL GROWING-UP STORIES

black.jpg Mom and Dad—Good Times and Bad

black.jpg Trying to Bring Us Up Right

black.jpg The Dreaded Stick

black.jpg Mom and Dad’s Trip—and Our Babysitter

black.jpg Going to Sleep Was Not Always Easy—Dad’s Turn with the Stick

black.jpg Peep!

black.jpg Girls Growing Up

black.jpg The Twins Contest

black.jpg Turning Sweet Sixteen—a Precious Gift and Memory

black.jpg Dating Johnnie and Preparing for Our Wedding

PART TWELVE | MOM—OUR INCREDIBLE NURSE

black.jpg Mom’s Home Remedies

black.jpg Mom Could Handle Anything

black.jpg Bonnie’s Peter-Asses Rash

black.jpg Scarlet Fever—I Was So Sick

black.jpg Gene’s Tragedy at the Grocery Store

PART THIRTEEN | OUR SPIRITUAL HERITAGE

black.jpg Getting Ready for Sunday School

black.jpg Our Faithful Transportation and an Amazing Family!

black.jpg Growing in the Nazarene Faith

black.jpg The Good News Club

black.jpg The Start of a Lifelong Love

TRIBUTE TO MOM

TRIBUTE TO WINNIFRED

black.jpg PREFACE black.jpg

My main purpose for writing this book as a tribute to our mom is to share my many wonderful memories of her with family members. This includes my siblings, my children, my grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and my large circle of extended relatives and friends. It is my intention that publishing this collection of stories will forever document the rich and colorful history of our family’s life, making it possible for many to cherish and enjoy. It has been an incredibly moving experience for me to commit to paper all these wonderful memories, remembering and enjoying them all over again. Most important, however, are the reasons I was inspired to write this story and how this process all began.

In the early spring of 1996, my siblings and I could see distinct signs that our mom was beginning to need some special help. Her memory, health, appearance, and overall quality of life seemed to be declining. She lived on her own in her small but comfortable home of nearly forty-six years but was no longer able to drive or run errands on her own. My husband, Dave, was so good to drive her wherever she needed to go—doctor’s visits, the grocery store, the hair salon, and of course, the church—which was especially important to Mom. He even gave her pedicures when she needed them. My siblings also shared in caretaking activities, often taking Mom to their homes after church for Sunday dinner and to spend the afternoon, then returning her to her home by evening time.

There were times when we’d arrive at her house to find it very cold because she had forgotten how to turn up the thermostat. This was serious because of our Midwestern below-zero temperatures. The same thing happened with the air-conditioning during the hot summer months. Other areas of concern came when Mom could not remember how to use her microwave or when she’d fall asleep with her doors open and lights on. We suspected that she wasn’t even going to bed but just falling asleep on her couch every night. Mom had always been an immaculate housekeeper, but those days seemed to be over. She was also wearing soiled clothing and forgetting her billfold and checkbook at the grocery store. We were all concerned.

It became apparent that Mom could no longer continue to safely live alone in her five-room home, so my brother, sisters, and I got together to discuss living-arrangement options for her. Due to health conditions that existed with my brother, Gene, and my sister Betty and because of the two-story layout of my sister Bonnie’s home, it was ultimately decided that Mom would come to live with my husband and me. I had done my homework and presented the case to my siblings that the best option for all would be for Mom to come live with us. It was a tough decision to commit to moving Mom out of her home as we all knew it would be terribly hard for her to lose her independence, but it had to be done for her own safety and well-being.

Mom came to live with us in July of 1996. Once she moved in, I began to experience the satisfaction of being able to care for her, giving back in some small way for all that she had done for us throughout our lives. It was an honor and pleasure to give her the love and help she needed at that time in her life.

About six months after Mom moved in, she began to get very cantankerous and even hateful at times. She sometimes refused to eat or go to bed and was becoming very difficult to deal with. After talking with her doctor about the changes in her behavior, he suggested that Mom have an Alzheimer’s evaluation. The evaluation revealed what we had all feared—Mom had Alzheimer’s.

The next year and a half went from bad to worse as Mom’s memory and faculties declined. Due to our own health issues and the comprehensive care that Mom now required, it became nearly impossible for my husband and me to care of her. My siblings and I needed to make another decision about what to do next to provide Mom with the level of care she now needed. It was decided that it would be best for her to move into an assisted-living nursing facility. This was a difficult but necessary decision for us all to make.

We began searching for the best facility to take care of our mom, and we finally found one that we all thought was suitable. We moved Mom into Maple Crest Care Center, not far from where she had lived for forty-six years. Mom was not happy about the move and didn’t want to go, but so much of her unhappiness was related to the Alzheimer’s disease, which had completely changed her attitude and overall demeanor. While Mom was at Maple Crest, the four of us (Gene, Betty, Bonnie, and I), our spouses, and the grandchildren visited her often, and she received wonderful care.

Three weeks after she had been admitted to the care center, I began feeling the profound absence of her presence in my home. I decided that I wanted to write a tribute to her, to be saved for the day when I would need it. As I started to write down my thoughts, the tribute to Mom got longer and longer. Thoughts and memories came flooding into my mind, and I could not stop it from happening. I was careful to write down everything as it came to me, not throwing anything away. It seemed that if I did throw even one word away of what I had written, it would be like throwing a precious part of her away. I finished my original tribute to Mom in 1999 and put it in a safe place until it was needed at her funeral in July of 2001.

After Mom passed away, I continued to add more and more thoughts to my notes every day. The wheels in my mind kept turning round and round, even at night. Sometimes I could not sleep, or I woke up from sleep to record thoughts and memories from my childhood. I kept a pad and a pen by my bed, and I would jot things down as they came to me in the night, sometimes not even turning on the light, just scrawling out what I was thinking or remembering.

These bits and pieces from my childhood would even come to me while working my part-time telemarketing job. Between phone calls, I would write down memories as fast as I could on scraps of paper and, once at home, would add them to the ever-growing collection of notes, which quickly grew to six, then eight inches high! After six months or so, I sorted all the notes into categories and found I had ten chapters. Without giving it much thought, my tribute to Mom was ever growing and developing into this book.

With Mom and the four of us children, there was never a dull moment, so I’m not surprised that I had so much to write about. I have tried my best to capture our family history and events up to the time I married and left the nest. Mom and Dad played a major and wonderful part in the adult lives of all of us, and many of the traditions we experienced as children carried on into our own families. Our lives have been rich, colorful, and blessed.

As I was putting all this history together, I suddenly realized that I automatically refer to our birth mother as mother, and our stepmother as mom. It seems only natural that we called our stepmother mom because we had been with her most of lives. I can say, at least for myself, there were very few times when I ever referred to her as our stepmother. Except for giving birth to us, she was truly our mother and mom in every sense of the word.

I am so thankful for the presence she had in our lives and will be eternally grateful for all the love, guidance, and wisdom she imparted to us. We have no control over our destinies, but fate surely shined brightly upon us when our mom came into our lives and molded us to become good people, good friends, and good parents. She was amazingly brave and courageous. She conquered all the many challenges we faced throughout our lives as children and in her own life as well as she grew into her senior years. No one could have been a better mom to the four of us. For all that she was and all that she did, I love her and will cherish these memories of her forever. 13195.png

black.jpg ACKNOWLEDGMENTS black.jpg

I lovingly dedicate this book to my wonderful mom, who came into the lives of me and my three siblings and our father at a time when we needed her most. She not only gave us unconditional love but also taught us how to love one another, showed us how to appreciate all that we had, and set the example for respecting our fellow man.

I want to give a special acknowledgment to my wonderful twin brother, Gene, who encouraged me to go full throttle to finish this book, which took the better part of my seven years. I only wish he could have read and enjoyed the final version before he passed away on August 12, 2002, but I will be forever grateful for his support and encouragement.

This tribute to Mom is also lovingly written for my two sisters, twins Bonnie and Betty, and all our families and friends. With this book, it is my sincere desire to bring back the wonderful, colorful memories of our childhood and forever pay homage to our loving, devoted mom, with whom we were so fortunate and blessed to have come into our lives.

Special thanks