Holidays with my mom (Sue Bee)

I wrote about my dad a few posts back, so I thought I would reflect on my mom who died of bone marrow cancer back in 2004.  Her name was Shirley Sue, but everyone called her Sue--in my teenage rebellious years it was necessary to call her something other than Mom, so I called her "Sue Bee"--that was a brand of honey that they sold in Iowa grocery stores.  She good naturedly allowed me to call her that--she was intensely proud of her children, and loved us all getting together for holidays whenever possible.   We lived in different states however, so she always planned for us to attend the Christmas Eve service at her church when we visited at Christmas to show us off (I have to wonder about her judgement!) to her friends.

This particular Christmas we were all there--Candi and I from college at Iowa, Bill from the Air Force Academy(in full uniform!), and Chris traveling in from Colorado.  We all sat in a pew near the front, being introduced to dozens of people, smiling and nodding, and acting very mature--almost too mature.  The service was going smoothly until a woman stood up to sing a delicate solo--the problem was that she was the pastor's wife and couldn't sing a lick--why he allowed her to sing on Christmas Eve is a true Christmas wonder.  Anyway, out of respect for my mom I bit my lip and prayed we would all get through it, until my younger brother Chris whispered loudly "Boooobbbbbbb".  I dared not even look at him because I knew I would lose it--it didn't matter if he recited the alphabet or the Pledge of Allegiance, I would LOSE IT!  I turned away and shook my head, but he hissed even louder "Boooobbbbb".  "Noooo" I silently mouthed to him and turned away again, knowing I would explode in laughter at anything he said.  "Boooobbbbbbb" he exclaimed one more time--"GONG HER!!!"  That was it--all mature behavior ended and the entire row of Coutts's erupted in spontaneous laughter during the most tender moment--my mom was not pleased, and never seemed as anxious to take us to her church again.

I'd like to say that was her kids' only irresponsible moment, but an equal display of our immaturity had occurred at a Thanksgiving dinner at her house a few years earlier.  Again, she proudly sat with all her kids at a table laden with food--her dad had travelled to Iowa for Thanksgiving, and she asked him to say the prayer before we ate.  The bad news was that her dad had been the lay leader for the tiny Pine Forest Methodist Church in Pensacola, Florida practically his whole life--that old guy could pray!  He started asking a blessing for the food, the ground, the animals, the sky, the hands that prepared it, the feet....the list was endless!  I could see the food that had once been steaming hot was getting cold, but we waited patiently-- then my sister Candi started to giggle softly.  It rose in volume as he continued praying almost inaudibly--and when she couldn't contain it any longer, she quietly slipped into the bathroom to compose herself.  After all she was a pre-law college student, the oldest child, and had a reputation to uphold.  After taking a few minutes to regain her composure, she confidently returned to the dining room TO FIND THE PRAYER WAS STILL GOING ON!!  That's when we all lost it--again I think that Sue Bee was never quite so eager to display her kids in public after that.  She was a good sport though, and continued to feed us through the years, so she couldn't have been too mad at us....I hope she's hooked up to Wi-Fi in heaven and can read my blogs....I miss her.....til next time....Bob