Mom’s
an interesting blend. Two days after
being married in Jackson, Michigan, she and my Dad both returned to school and
their classrooms to teach. Later that
spring they took their official honeymoon.
Packed into their little VW bug, they drove all around Northern Lower
Michigan.
They traveled by Charlevoix, up
back roads to Mackinaw City, and then down to Gaylord and into the Pigeon River
State Forest. Who knew that after a year
in Eaton Rapids, and a year in Rudyard of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula near the
Kincheloe Air Force Base, that they would settle into the “Tip of the Mitt,”
and call Northern Lower Michigan their home?
I was born while they lived in Cadillac. After a few years they moved to Gaylord where
my sisters Becky & Karen were born.
They had several rentals on the west side of Otsego Lake, and then they
bought their first house, on ten acres, eleven miles northeast of town out past
the old railroad stop of Sparr.
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| Mom with baby Mike |
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| Introducing me to moving water at the Manistee River |
For
being a girl raised “in town,” the country life seemed to fit my Mom perfectly. We were a one car family, and yet we somehow
made it work. While Dad taught Jr. High
math in Gaylord, my sisters and I eventually went to elementary school in
Johannesburg, and Mom worked full time as a “Stay at Home Mom.”
Soon
after moving out to this first house of theirs on “Rural Route #1”, we
converted part of the shed into a barn (several years later the dirt road was officially
named Dipzinski Road). The country
living that we were a part of coincided with the nationwide “Back to the Basics”
movement. It was only natural that we
add farm animals onto our land. Later, we
would build a small little pole barn to better house the animals we had. When I was in second grade, Mom brought our
new triplet kid goats to our elementary school.
At the time we were learning how to write the cursive letter “G”, so it went
perfectly with the lesson. It was great
fun running around the playground with my classmates as the baby goats raced along
right behind us. Not too many Mom’s (or
students for that matter) have the chance to be a part of something like that.
Annual
gardens were a given. Mom used every
square inch of the large drop freezer that we had, in addition to the storage
shelves in the root cellar, dug into the side hill off the back of the original
shed. Looking back, the cellar was very “Hobbit-like”
and fun to play near. My sisters and I
often climbed the rock walls that led into the small wooden door, dropped
stones and sticks through the air vent protruding up through the top of the
hill, and jumped from the top of it down into drifted snow in the winter. Mom canned and froze the fruits and vegetables
that we stored. As kids we were often
handed an old “Cool Whip” container and sent down to the valley behind our
house to pick wild strawberries. Mom
used these and other berries to make jams and jellies as preserves. Bribes to keep whiny kids at bay were
promised in the form of a trip out to the Otsego Lake State Park where my Dad
worked as a ranger in the summer time.
We could go swimming if we filled the container with strawberries as
opposed to filling our bellies. She also
used the large crock down in the lower utility room of our house to transform
cucumbers from the garden into pickles.
Mom
was always baking. We had plenty of milk
from our goats, and eggs from our chickens.
My mouth waters right now when I think of a thick slab of Mom’s freshly
baked bread, slathered in butter. She
was an integral part of our areas first health food co-op. She used the bulk food she purchased to make
many different kinds of meals. It was
also through the co-op that we were introduced to dried fruit, carob, and large
blocks of cheese. Baby Swiss was my
favorite and Mom knew it! As a growing
boy I often made several peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at any one time. I’d quench my hunger from sandwiches made
from natural peanut butter (you had to stir in the oil first), alongside
homemade jam; all on top of the freshly baked bread. If I wanted to change it up, I cut thick
slabs of cheese and put them on the bread with a generous quantity of yellow mustard. Meat often came from our chickens, as well as
from the geese we raised. She would also
fix wild game Dad brought home from his adventures in the woods. Throughout the various seasons we had fish,
snowshoe hares, or grouse. I can still
picture the thick gravy over a drumstick from those birds. It was dark meat, and it tasted delicious.
On
the floor in the little sun porch that jutted out on the south side of our
small house, Mom often had material rolled out with the delicate tissue of a clothes
pattern pinned onto it. With special
shears she would cut out the cloth to make clothes for my sisters and me. A red and blue shirt with crabs on it is what
I remember most specifically, along with a brown and white shirt that had tools
on it. What I remember most from my
sister’s homemade clothes, were the pioneer dresses and bonnets that went along
with our nation’s Bicentennial Celebration in 1976.
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| Family Picture- 1976 |
After
several years on Dipzinski Road, my parents purchased some property halfway
back towards Gaylord. For quite a few
years it was simply known as “The Property.”
We often stopped there to hike and picnic. My Mom’s parents went in on the deal, and
together we each had forty acres. With Grandma
and Grand-dad living down state, it was really like having eighty acres;
practically a wilderness with the woods and swamps surrounding us. Eventually we built on the property; a house
nestled back in the pines, surrounded by hardwoods and hills. My sisters and I entered into the Gaylord school
systems at that time. Our barn, and
farm, and garden grew in size. We added
wood burning stoves, bee keeping, and a maple sugar shack to our list of
activities tying us to the land.
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| Christmas 1977 |
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| Mom & her friend Norean snowmobiling into Yellowstone-1980 |
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| Thanksgiving 1983 |
Mom
came by picnics naturally. Grandma was a
professional by anyone’s standards, and Mom simply took it from there. It was from those stepping stones, coupled
with Dad’s ingenuity, that they would often pack us up for day trips into the
Pigeon River State Forest. We would pile
into our yellow Volkswagen van early in the morning, and look for elk on
winding, dusty two track roads in the woods.
More often than not we stopped for breakfast along the way (cooked over
an open fire or on our camp stove).
Later we would stop at the Pigeon River or Pickerel Lake to swim and
play. It just didn’t get any better than
that; unless of course you take into account our camping trips. That was like taking our picnic trips to a
whole new level. Dad’s engineering
prowess was put to the test as he designed and outfitted a wooden “camp-box”
that fit on top of a single snowmobile trailer that he refurbished. Mom packed that box with the kind of
thoughtfulness that a white footed mouse might use to store food prior to the
first snowfall of the season. Painted
long necked beer bottle boxes were where she helped each of us kids pack the
clothes needed to fit the excursion and the predicted weather. In these sturdy boxes is also where our food
and cookware was stored. Each box slid
into pre-fitted cubby holes and slots that kept them stable. The entire operation was impressive, and one
that led to many fun, and exciting adventures.
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| Mom and our "Big Blue Tent" |
As
I grew, Mom was a listening ear when I came home from school each day. She liked to know what was going on, and how
I felt about things. I never felt right
about holding things back, so I pretty much told her everything that was happening. That would come in handy while I was in
college and gaining independence on my own.
She and Dad expected us to work hard and do our best at whatever we were
involved in. Mom also fostered spontaneity,
as it was often with her blessing and a smile that I left the house with my
dog, headed back into the woods, and disappeared into exploratory treks that
lasted for hours at a time. I have
always appreciated how she encouraged the development of that part of my
spirit.
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| Karen & Mom with her big bluegill |
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| Becky & Mom after a college football game |
From
Mom I have gained a love for reading. I
have also learned to be frugal in what I need, while being open and generous in
what I have. Living things of all
species of plants and animals were to be respected. Although creepy, crawling bugs, especially
ones that randomly flew up beside her, she could do without. Lovingly, Mom led by example what it meant to
have a personal relationship with God.
She has good insight in how that looks and works, through personal
experience. That perception to detail
also allows her to look at budgets and money amounts with more of an interest
than most would have. It’s from that
personal experience too, that she has withstood two knee replacements and a
back surgery; only to rebound time and again.
It’s been a lesson for me on enduring pain while trying to move forward.
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| Dad & Mom in 2001 before moving down to Southern Wisconsin |
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| Todd and Jodi after helping Grandma bake some bread |
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| Todd & Jodi with both sets of Grandparents after a XC Meet-2014 |
Over the years, while continuing to
be my Mom, she has also moved into the role of Grandma. It’s a different role, but one she enjoys. From the various facets that have made her
who she is, she is leaving a legacy. These
are the things that make my Mom an interesting blend. Thanks Mom, I love you.
See
you along The Way…
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| Ice Cream at Meggy Moos's - Mother's Day 2017 |
