Against the Rules

When we were preparing for my mom's funeral, the pastor asked each of the kids about their favorite Nana story. I was at a wedding the other day when a friend told she has re-told one particularly funny stories from my daughter. She said she laughs every time she tells it. The story perfectly describes how my mom detested rules.  The best way to get her to do something was to tell her NOT to do it.

When my daughter was a preschooler, she went with my mom to visit her sisters in Ada. Aja and mom were driving from Ada to Allen when my mom got stopped by a highway patrol. Mom had a very heavy foot. She saw no reason to poke around when you could go warp speed instead. As she pulled over she told Aja to get in the back seat. She said.... "Get back there and pray, and pretend you are really, really sick." When the officer asked for her drivers license, he that mom had taped her "glamour" photo over her official state issued drivers license photo. He peeled the glamour shot off and told mom.... "Ma'am, you can't do this. You can't tape a different picture over the photo they took at the driver's license office." Mom explained to him that she didn't like the picture from the license office and she thought the glamour shot was more flattering. He handed the license back (I can't actually remember if he issued a ticket or not), and sent her on her way with instructions not to put the photo back on the license. When mom got home, she had her glamour shot permanently laminated to her license. Like I said, you simply didn't tell her not to do something, because she would go against "The Rules" every time.

A couple of months ago, I visited her grave to see the headstone that had been placed. When I was there, I saw the temporary marker the funeral home had placed at her grave. I brought it home with me. There is a beautiful rose bush I gave mom for mother's day several years ago. Dad planted it by the front door. I put her temporary marker beneath the rose bush. Dad was cleaning out drawers the other day and came across her photo shopped drivers license. He works for the funeral home and they told him to bring the marker to work and they would put her picture on it and re-do the information that had faded. The other morning when I went by for morning coffee, he showed me her renewed marker beneath the rose bush..... Mom would be so proud.