Listen to Your Mother

I was a lucky one. I had an amazing, beautiful mother who loved my older sister and I to pieces. She was always there for us and even though her own upbringing had been far from idyllic she knew how to give love and supported us unconditionally.

My mother, Dorothy Grace Wheeler Wallis, was also my best friend and I could talk to her about anything and she never judged us but just listened with appreciation that we would share things with her.

She taught me so many things and I always respected her wisdom and kindness. I now am lucky enough to have two wonderful daughters and a beautiful daughter-in-law who are also all very kind and good hearted. They don’t always share everything with me but, like my mother, I am very grateful when they do talk to me about their lives.

It is hard to know until you have children of your own how very much your children mean to you and how much you love them and just want them to be safe and happy.

My mother passed in 1996 and from then on until he passed, we would have my dad come to Ajijic, Lake Chapala to get him out of the frozen north for a few months.

He loved it here and called Ajijic, Lake Chapala “a little bit of paradise”. This is how we feel to this day almost 19 years after moving here from Toronto, Canada in 1994.

My father would often quote my mother while he was here with little tidbits that he remembered her saying. I am sad to say I often thought these nuggets were silly and did not always put them into action.

One of the ones I remember was that one should always unplug their toaster when leaving the house. I asked my dad why one would need to do this. His curt response was that it was always very important to her but he did not specifically know why. He went on to say that as she was gone we were unable to ask her.

This morning I went about my chores and when I got home Viki (who has been with us for the almost 19 years that we have been here) said that when she came in the toaster was very hot and the kitchen was filled with smoke. She had the foresight to unpIug the toaster directly. I interrogated my family and no one had used the toaster this morning so it is a mystery as to what exactly happened.

I was very lucky that Viki was here and I will never again leave the house without unplugging the toaster.

Thanks Mom. I will go back over all the things dad said you told him and follow them all to the letter.