My very smart mother
My mother loves to tell stories of times when she had a bright idea and saved the day. One of these stories (about the child having a fatal accident) I've already told here. Here are a few others that I can remember. I'm sure there are many more that will come to me eventually.
When my mother was very little, an aunt (her father's sister) asked her "Who is more beautiful, me or your mother?" She knew what the "right" answer was supposed to be. But she also wanted to be honest. In her mind, there was no contest between the two women in the looks department - her mom won hands down. So she came up with the following reply: "You look beautiful when you dress up, my mother always looks beautiful."
When she was a lot older, maybe in college, her brother asked for her help one day. He had an important meeting to go to but a button had come off his suit and he needed it sewed back on. So my mother grabbed some white thread, the only reel in the house, and started sewing the black button onto the black suit. "What are you doing!" yelled my uncle "that white thread is going to stand out horribly on the suit, I can't go to the meeting wearing that!" My mother told him to calm down and be patient. She finished sewing the button, grabbed a black eyebrow pencil and coloured in the visible part of the thread.
The last story is from Kolar, after my mother was married. The doctors and their wives had been invited to the police sports day. There were different kinds of innovative races for different groups of participants. My mother entered the women's race in which the women had to eat a plate of snacks, drink a cup of hot coffee, drink a glass of water and then run a short distance. As the participants chomped through the snacks and blew on the hot coffee, my mother quicky poured some water into the coffee cup, some of the mixture back into the water glass and the resulting coffee-water into the coffee cup a few times. As others took small sips of the coffee so as not to burn their tongues, my mother downed the cool coffee-water mixture in one shot and got an early start on the last lap. A policeman's wife beat her to first place. But my mother still possesses and enjoys the shining gold, rectangular purse with colorful butterflies on it that she won for coming in second.
When my mother was very little, an aunt (her father's sister) asked her "Who is more beautiful, me or your mother?" She knew what the "right" answer was supposed to be. But she also wanted to be honest. In her mind, there was no contest between the two women in the looks department - her mom won hands down. So she came up with the following reply: "You look beautiful when you dress up, my mother always looks beautiful."
When she was a lot older, maybe in college, her brother asked for her help one day. He had an important meeting to go to but a button had come off his suit and he needed it sewed back on. So my mother grabbed some white thread, the only reel in the house, and started sewing the black button onto the black suit. "What are you doing!" yelled my uncle "that white thread is going to stand out horribly on the suit, I can't go to the meeting wearing that!" My mother told him to calm down and be patient. She finished sewing the button, grabbed a black eyebrow pencil and coloured in the visible part of the thread.
The last story is from Kolar, after my mother was married. The doctors and their wives had been invited to the police sports day. There were different kinds of innovative races for different groups of participants. My mother entered the women's race in which the women had to eat a plate of snacks, drink a cup of hot coffee, drink a glass of water and then run a short distance. As the participants chomped through the snacks and blew on the hot coffee, my mother quicky poured some water into the coffee cup, some of the mixture back into the water glass and the resulting coffee-water into the coffee cup a few times. As others took small sips of the coffee so as not to burn their tongues, my mother downed the cool coffee-water mixture in one shot and got an early start on the last lap. A policeman's wife beat her to first place. But my mother still possesses and enjoys the shining gold, rectangular purse with colorful butterflies on it that she won for coming in second.
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