Happy Mother’s Day To Shirley Katherine Yeames

In celebration of Mother's Day on Sunday May 13, we asked Patch readers to write a letter to their mother and let us deliver it. This is Kate Smith's letter to her mom:

My mom is 94 years and nine months old this Mother's Day. (Once you pass 90, you begin to count each month!) I have known her personally for 54 and change of those years.

What a kind, caring, pretty, cute, soft-spoken, funny, sweet, wonderful little old lady she is. She always says, "Kate, you know I am getting old." I say back, "Mom. You are old."

One time I told her we just passed a dead deer on the highway and she said, "Oh dear." I laughed for about a minute. Another time I got her coffee and, bringing it back to her, I spilled it on my hand and said, "Ow!" When I told her what happened she asked, "Is there enough coffee left for me to still drink?"

One of my favorites memories is when a man I was dating dumped me, and I went to her to tell her what happened. With a few tears in my eyes, I said, "Mom, Tom dumped me." Without missing a beat she said, "At least he didn't murder you."

Her life has been hard. Since she was born in 1923, she lived through the depression. Her parents were separated at a time when that never happened. She had a special-needs sister who required most of their attention. She didn’t have such a great marriage, although Dad did provide financially, thank God. The hardest part of her life has been problems with two of her children for the past five years.

Since she has always been quiet, she has often been misunderstood or, unfortunately, taken for granted throughout her life. At 90 years old she went to see a therapist for the first time in her life. Once again, I am so proud of this woman. The therapist helped her to find her voice. I thought I knew my mom so well. But guess what? There has been so much more I have learned since she started counseling. What a gift.

Every day I wake up and come down the stairs. My greatest joy is seeing that Mom is alive and putting her arms out to hug me good morning. Another gift is that she is still mobile on her own and has 98 out of 100 marbles in her head.

As I type this out at 10:45 p.m., I am watching her do a jigsaw puzzle at her table — her favorite activity! She probably won't go to bed until it is done. If I ask her if she wants to see the picture her response will be, "Of course not! That would be cheating!"

—Kate Smith

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See all Mother's Day letters here.

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For next month's Love In A Small Town feature, we want to help you give Dad the best Father's Day gift ever. Write him a heartfelt letter to tell him how much he means to you, email it to locallove@patch.com and we'll feature it in your town's newsfeed on Father's Day. Get more details here.

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Image Credit: Kate Smith