My mom was a great lady.

She was a wonderful Christian, warm and friendly, and really fun. She had a great sense of humor, a great heart, and all five of us kids adored her.

Mom was well loved by everyone in our little home town of Hinkley CA in the middle of the Mojave Desert. I found out just how well loved she was while taking care of her once when she got sick. I think every person in Hinkley called to ask about her. They all told me how wonderful she was and all the things she had done for them. I had always thought my mom was special, but I learned just how special that week.

Mom could be extremely funny too. She did hilarious things, often without meaning to. It made for a lot of funny stories.

Mom had little problem, well maybe not so little. After having five children, she had a bit of a bladder control issue, but it only manifested its self when she laughed really hard. This type of a bodily malfunction could be terrifying for her children. We kids would have a nervous breakdown in church, at school programs, in friends' homes, whenever we had company or anytime something hit mom as 'very funny'. We would hold our breath and pray, "Please don't let mom wet her pants!"

My story is about just such an incident.

Mom had always been very thin in her younger years, but after having all us kids and the passing of time, she began putting on weight. One day she decided to join Weight Watchers.

Though mom lost a lot of weight, she didn't go out and buy new clothes. In those days it was very common for women to wear house dresses. They were cool and comfortable on the desert and that's all I ever saw my mom wear as a kid. After losing the weight, mom felt the house dresses still looked okay and there was no money for new clothes anyway.

Since money was in short supply and you didn't buy new clothes, you certainly didn't waste it on silly things like new underwear. Even if the ones you are now wearing are three sizes too big.

One day when I was about 13, I went grocery shopping with Mom. She wore one of her house dresses and her three sizes too big underwear. As she was wheeling the cart around the grocery store, she had to stop often to adjust her much too large undergarment. After about the 10th adjustment, I started laughing. It was just too funny watching her pull up her undies all the time. She kept saying, "These darn underwear!" So I lost it, the bad news is, mom lost it too. We both got to laughing really hard.

There we were in the soft drink aisle and mom is standing in a rather large puddle, and it wasn't soft drink. She looked at me and said, "Let's get out of here!" So we fled, leaving the aisle and puddle far behind, (I hoped they'd think a bottle of Mountain Dew had exploded), but we didn't leave the store. Oh no, we had driven 12 miles from our little town of Hinkley to the big town of Barstow to do our shopping, and we couldn't just leave, we had to finish.

Now Mom had two problems. She was wet and her undies were now too heavy to stay up without her holding on to them. She says to me, "You push the cart and I'll keep my hands in my pockets and hold up my underwear." It was so hard not to laugh.

So I pushed the cart and mom held up her undies. I'm following her around the store, when I see something hanging out from under her dress. I realize much to my horror, that it's mom's underwear. They're hanging out!

Okay, now it's not funny. I am a teenager about to be totally humiliated by my mother. I broke out in a cold sweat and feel sick to my stomach. I said, quietly yet with emotion, "Mom! Your underwear are hanging out from under your dress!" She calmly says, "Oh, are they?" and goes behind an end cap and gives her undies a mighty tug, pulling her dress almost up to her waist in the process.

Now I'm dying. I don't even remember what happened after that, I think I may have blacked out. I just remember being in the checkout line, and wanting to laugh again. Mom tells me to go wait in the car.

I don't know how she managed to push the cart to the car and hold things together, (and I didn't ask), but I soon hear the trunk open, groceries being loaded in and she appeared at the driver's side door. She got in the car, took off her undies, wrapped them in newspaper, (I don't know why we had newspaper in the car, but thank goodness we did.) and put them in the trunk.

On the way home, she had to pull the car over, we were laughing so hard. (Luckily, there were no further incidences).

Oh mom, you were so hilarious!

I'm glad I had such a funny mom, one who did such crazy things, and could laugh at herself. She never seemed to get upset about her crazy antics, she always just laughed.

She's been gone 18 years now. I miss you mom. I think about you every day. You were the best!