Karen Wils photo Motherhood, 1960. Busy times — my mother in the middle, holding me; on the left family friend, Audry Ellison and infant; and my aunt Nancy Hendrickson and infant.

ESCANABA — My mother was a permanent Sharpie marker.

And not the fine point one either (sorry Mom). She was a bold, black chisel tip marker that got her message across very clearly.

So, it’s Mother’s Day weekend and my mom has been gone for fifteen years. Yet, she is permanently etched in so many everyday things in my life.

I never would have guessed it years ago, but Mom left an awesome mark on all six of us kids. Mom’s permanent marks are sometimes physical things like family resemblance. My brother Mike has her eyes. Several of her grandchildren have her build and her smile.

Some of Mom’s indelible marks are intellectual things. My sister Lori, brother Jim and my daughter can spit out answers before the contestants on the Jeopardy TV game show, just like my mother could.

My son and I have inherited her cooking gene. We bake bread, pies and whip together a wonderful meal out of hardly anything.

My brother Dave has her wit, sense of humor and Mark has her stubbornness.

I have discovered after becoming a mom myself, that sometimes I open my mouth and my mother’s words come out. I sure don’t try to do that but things like “if everyone jump off the ore dock would you want to too?” Or “you are just as good as anyone else” or “there’s nothing cheaper than soap and water” coming rolling off my tongue.

Some things Mom permanently engraved into me are fixing enough food so that there is always some for the uninvited guest. After a meal I, like her, must immediately clear and wash the table and set a little plant or decoration in the middle of it. The kitchen table should always be ready in case someone stops by for coffee.

Even though Mom has been gone a long time, I can still feel very close to her when I’m in the kitchen. I cherish some of her old recipe cards in her own neat handwriting with a good Sharpie marker. I smile every time I see her notes in her old cookbook, like “good firm” penciled in next to her favorite chocolate cake recipe.

I was very blessed to have a mother who has her priorities in order. Faith, family and friends were very important to her. She helped raise her younger brothers and sisters after her own parents died very young and then six kids of her own.

Mom only had to clear her throat in church and my brothers knew they better straighten up. Mom could make what we kids called her “frog eye” and the whole crew knew someone was in trouble.

Back in my school days, sometimes Mom would be gone to a meeting when we got home from school. There was always a nice, big handwritten note on the table. “Hang up your school clothes, do the paper route and there’s brownies or apples for a snack… and NO mess,” was what it read.

As we get ready to celebrate another Mother’s Day, we remember so many funny and wonderful things about our moms and grandmothers and great-grandmothers.

Make some memories. Leave some permanent marks of love on the people in your life.

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Karen (Rose) Wils is a lifelong north Escanaba resident. Her folksy columns appear weekly in Lifestyles.