Nov 12, 2023 -- A Story About Your Mom

 About My Mom

12 November 2023

Flynn Family Story Slingers

By Cary Holmquist

One of my favorite memories of my mother is her laugh.  She and her sisters had a laugh, which they got from their mother and her sisters, a laugh that was a long, loud, cackling, burbling, wide-mouthed laugh.  They really whooped it up and it was known in their little farming community as “that Vance laugh.”  Nothing could stop it.  Growing up and moving away only spread it out.

A lot of people, if something happens to their face, they will try to hide it or be shy about it, at least for a while.  But that never stopped my mother’s laugh, even after her smile was broken.  Literally.  She laughed anyway.

It started out with her kids.  O.K., with me.  For whatever reason, when I was seven years old or so, it seemed like a funny thing to do, to stick my boot into a tomato-juice can—you know, the kind of can that was hardly wider around than a soup can and very tall, compared to other food cans, for whatever reason.   

Of course, my foot was still in the boot.  I think maybe the idea was to see if two of the cans would help make me taller, since stilts were too hard to manage.  As it turned out, the tomato-juice cans were even harder to manage.  

Anyway, there I was, a whining, slightly panicking kid—and very frustrated and angry—trying to pry my lace-up boot and foot out of a can and getting no where near success.

My Mom got me sat down on the floor in front of her, also sitting on the floor facing me, and took my leg between her knees and started to pull on that can.  The first few tries did not work to budge it at all.  So she gave a big yank and the can came off and she wasn’t quick enough to dodge the trajectory toward herself and the bottom of the can came right into her mouth and made a significant chip, taking out the corner the lower part of her top front teeth, right where her front teeth came together at the bottom, formerly in a nice straight line.  

I know it hurt her quite a bit as well, because she yelped and cried and moaned for a good deal.  

So, my Mom had that chipped front tooth for a long time…at least 25 years, maybe more.  But she never seemed to be self-conscious about it.  She smiled and laughed without a thought about it, never letting it dampen her joy in laughing out loud.  Sometimes, if someone asked, she would tell the story about how it happened.  

Mom was also one of those people whose talent it was to touch the tip of her nose with the tip of her tongue.  So, her teeth, not even the chipped one, got in the way of that trick.  I think she tried to take advantage of it a little by trying with clenched jaws, to force the tip of her tongue through the chip.  But it was not a big enough gap to become another of the tongue tricks.    

She found the funds and a dentist to cap that tooth, many, many years later.  Until then, I could never see her smile or laugh without seeing that chip flaw and remembering also my role in how that happened.  How my Mom was trying so hard to help me out of a sticky—stucky—predicament that I had gotten myself into, was injured herself and then she wore the mark of it for the rest of my growing up years and far beyond.  

The sacrifices that mothers make for their kids never seem to cease, and consequences—big and small—can go on for a long time or forever.     

By: Colleen Holmquist

Part of a parent’s role is to give advice.

My mama always said:

Don’t marry the first guy who asks you.

Don’t make me a gramma before I’m 50.

Her loudest advice, however, was what she didn’t say. Just how she lived her life—most of the time in the background until it came to cheering her kids on in sports or defending them when falsely accused. And then EVERYONE saw and heard her.

She never considered her own needs—hardly ever bought herself new clothes. Even when she sold LeVoy’s she ordered the items I liked and in my size. 

But there was one acquisition she orchestrated that was as much for herself as for us.

Mom has always loved watching movies. But they were only on “the big screen” and she didn’t get to go often—too many kids? Too expensive? Dad not around to go with? Nothing worth watching? Some movies were on television but they were limited—you could only watch the movies the networks chose and only at a specific time. Hard to believe, right?

Movies were truly a rare treat.

And then some genius created the VCR that connected to your television and you could watch what you wanted when you wanted in your own home. Video stores popped up everywhere where you could rent a movie—or two—the caveat was that you also had to rent the VCR player and hook up all the cables every time. 

Eventually…video home systems aka VHS players were available for purchase at the electronic store. Mom decided that we would have one in our home. Of course, there was the issue of money—as in there wasn’t a couple hundred dollars lying around waiting to be spent. Which by the way is—according to various inflation calculators on the internet—equivalent to between $732.83 and $773.92 in 2023! So, that was a big chunk of cash!

As they say, “where there is a will there is a way.” And Mom found that way.

The Hill and the Shearer families in Missoula started a lollypop business and they needed labelers. Mom signed us up right away. She converted one of the bedrooms in the “house on the hill” into a home theater. Well, we had a television to which we hooked up the rented VCR player and watched movies. Somebody would pick up boxes of wrappers and labels which we applied while watching rented movies. We were paid by the number of wrappers we labeled.

I vaguely recall the day we brought our very own VHS home, all of us barely containing our excitement, while we hooked it up to the television. I do not remember what the first movie we watched was. And the rest is history. 

BY: Carrie Keiser

Been trying to think a good story to share about mom, but coming up blank. I think if Troy had to share a story, his would be the time he called her to get permission to marry me, (Dad must have been away on the truck). Mom was at work maybe ? Anyway he called her and then she put him on hold to check the chicken. It was funny because he had to wait til she came ballot address the pressing issue at hand.If Shantel was asked to share a story she would tell about the time mom and da babysat the kids when we went on the cruise and they made donuts. 

There was a trip back from Ut when she didn’t want to have to drive at night because the alternator was going out and she didn’t want to run the battery down on unnecessary things light lights or the radio. 

Another fun tie bit I have is when mom and I for some reason were taking Brandon’s RX-7 for a drive around Missoula. I was a bit chilly and we had picked it up from Brandon, as he was closing the drivers door for mom, he said to not drive it crazy. Mom looked over at me smiled and laughed, then she laid some rubber while Brandon gave chase while yelling something at us.