By NIVA DOROUGH / Community Columnist

Mother’s Day is not just another holiday created by the card companies. It is a special day to celebrate the lives of mothers past and present. It is a time to put our gratitude into action. Most moms would say it’s not the expensive gift that matters, but just a phone call or visit when you say “I love you or was just thinking of you today.”

My mom, Bertha Blankenship Moore, grew up in Westover, went to school at “The Rock School” and shared many stories of walking to school and the store with her sister, Ada, with a small amount of money to purchase milk or flour, hoping to have enough left to buy a piece of candy or licorice. She was always busy helping at home, sweeping the yard with a broom made of dogwood branches or helping to care for her youngest sister, Donna.

Mom married a handsome gray-eyed gentleman, Byron Moore, from Springville in 1942. After serving in the Army during World War II, they returned to Westover for a life-time residency. Mom said she only worked two days in her life at the Cotton Gin, and never returned for her pay.

She always knew her calling and mission in life was to be a wife, homemaker and to take care of her children and grandchildren. She taught me a lot about contentment and gratefulness in my lifetime. The only time I can remember that she got her name in the paper was for her 50th wedding anniversary.

She was a woman of faith, and music was much a part of her life. She was happiest when she sang, and was the song director for Mt. Zion Baptist and Prospect Baptist Church in Westover.

In her earlier years, she would take her guitar and sing with her friend, Merle Gardner, while Brother Wallace ministered to those at the county jail.

Yard work was relaxing to her, raking leaves into a huge pile for the grandchildren to go jump into.

Peonies, petunias and roses were her favorite flowers she enjoyed watching grow in her yard.

Although she is not here to read this article, it is her legacy to her grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. This Mother’s Day week, don’t forget to call home and tell your mom “Thank you” for all the sacrifices she has made for you at “No Charge — Paid In Full”!

Niva Dorough can be reached at nivasinger@aol.com.