December 5, 2014 Advent with SusieJ

Do it. Do it right. Do it right now.

Long before there was Nike, there was Pastor Boyd of Good Shepherd Church in Southampton. Pastor Boyd preached a sermon to the congregation whose theme my mother lived by and repeated to me throughout my life: Do it. Do it right. Do it right now.

Mom did. If she could do it herself, she did it, and she did so many things. She worked a job as soon as she graduated high school until she married, then again after leaving her husband until her dwindling muscle strength and a corporate buy-out convinced her to retire. She was a secretary, a financial analyst, and an HR specialist. She loved to garden, joined (and led) the local garden club, and exhibited at the Philadelphia Flower Show. She sewed my doll's clothes. Her needlepoint hangs in my house. In the Aughts, she had her own theorem painting crafting business.

With anything she did, she took time and care, and did it as best she could. She did analyst work in the 60s, when women had jobs and not careers. She earned ribbons at the Flower Show. Not only did she finish her needlepoint projects, but her stitches are even and lovely. Her theorem paintings were accepted into a number of local juried craft shows, and sold well.

She didn't procrastinate. Coats tossed on the back of a chair? Not for her: they went right into the closet. Bills were paid on time; forms filled out and returned immediately. If there was no time to do it today, she set aside time in the next week or month.

In the last decade, she had to rely more and more for others to do for her. Her frustration was palpable. Things were getting done, just not exactly the way she would do them, and she wanted them done right. To complain about how things were done would be petty and ungrateful, so she didn't complain.

I've gotten two of the three steps down. It's that last one that always tripps me up. I drove Mom crazy with late schoolwork, and still need to bribe myself to answer mail. Routine keeps me on track but anything outside the routine slides off the edge of my life.

One of the many visits to Germany: Tante Maria, Onkel Ernst, Mom, Tante Liesl, Tante Mathilde. She never regretted taking the time to travel and maintain ties with family.