Week of May 7, 2001
Rosemary S.

"Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother."
Exodus 20:12, Deuteronomy 5:16

When I was young, and television was even younger, we gathered around the set each week to watch the Hansen Family. The program opened with Katrin, the older daughter, leafing through a family album, remembering the big white house on Steiner Street, in San Francisco, where this family grew up. One reason, I believe, that I was so fond of the series, is that Katrin was played by Rosemary Rice, the only other person I knew who shared my name. Of course, the handsome Nels, (played by Dick van Patten, who at the time had beautiful, wavy blond hair) was also attractive. The loving family gathered around the table for meals, held hands, and said grace. (I believe it was in Norwegian, but I don't remember the words.) Our family, too, held hands when we said grace. As a small child, I remembered praying,

"Thank you for the world so sweet
  Thank you for the food we eat
  Thank you for the birds that sing
  Thank you God for everything."

Like the Hansen family, we were not rich, but we always had enough to eat. (One Halloween, when pumpkins were scarce and too expensive, we made jack-o'-lanterns out of tomatoes!) My mother is an excellent cook, and we were well fed. We ate a lot of fish: we liked it, it was local, and it was inexpensive. Quite often, there were others at the table. It was quite common to invite the pastor for dinner on Sunday, so we got to know him and his family well, and were sad when he moved on. Like the Hansens, cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents, were part of our extended family. For many years, we actually had two sets of grandparents, and one set of great-grandparents. We all lived within an hour's distance of each other, quite unusual in today's world.

Mama was one of the best-loved of the early family comedies, a prototype of other "growing family" series which came along later, such as Ozzie and Harriet, Danny Thomas, Leave it to Beaver. There were no cheap gags or bumbling parents, but a loving family with parents who gathered the family to discuss and solve the family's problems. There was never a doubt of who was in charge. The parents listened to the children, but they were the ones who made the ultimate decisions. Too bad there are not any kinescopes or tapes of the Mama episodes. They were, for the most part, done live each week. You can, however, read "Mama's Bank Account," by Kathryn Forbes, which was also made into a movie in 1948. Perhaps if more families could see examples of happy, "functional" families, there would be fewer "dysfunctional" families. Perhaps if more families gathered around the table each night to give thanks for what they had, there would be fewer children wanting things they did not need.

While my family was not exactly like the Hansens, I believe that we had a good beginning with loving parents who taught us to care for each other and for others in need.

When I think of my childhood, I Remember Mama. She taught us our nursery rhymes and the things we needed to become thoughtful, caring adults. She did the laundry, kept the house in order, drove us to school on rainy days, read us stories and cooked our meals.

I remember the book of table graces that came out each night. My father wore out many of them over the years, and last year, with the help of my husband and the computer, I compiled a day-to-day collection for his personal use. He reads from it each night, whether there are just the two of them, or a table full of guests and family. Even during his illness, whenever he is at the table for dinner, the book comes out and no one begins dinner until he has read the piece for the evening. When I think of the days when we were children, I think about gathering around the table for the evening meal, and most of all, I Remember Daddy.

Hymn # 357
Lutheran Book of Worship
Our Father, by whose name
All parenthood is known:
In love divine you claim
Each family as your own.
Bless mothers, fathers, guarding well
With constant love as sentinel,
The homes in which your people dwell.
Amen.

Contributed by Rosemary S.
Published Monday May 7, 2001
Week 24 of Liturgical Year C