From the desks of www.santafehospitalitygroup.com
Hospitality was bred into me. The desire to make friends and friends-in-the-making happy, relaxed and comfortably sated with fine food, shared experiences and soothing drink is in my blood.
I attribute it to my grandmother. I don't know why I woke up this morning and decided to blog about Mammy, but I did. You can either bear with me - or jump off here.
Mammy journeyed to New Mexico via covered wagon from Texas on a cattle drive in the late 1800s. She and her family settled in Lincoln County New Mexico when she was five years old; she attended New Mexico Normal College and was teaching school when she was seventeen.
She and her husband traveled by covered wagon from Lincoln County to a town called Gibson just north of Gallup where they opened a general store. She taught school, birthed two children and became central to a community that no longer exists; the family moved on to Arizona.
Nothing fancy or pretentious about it.
Mammy lived with us in Arizona for several years. By then she was in her 70s and loved nothing more than to regale us with stories from her past. Most were probably true - many were likely embellished. Her husband's personality was strong - but he wasn't a storyteller - or a taskmistress like Mammy. She demanded excellence. "If something's worth doing - it's worth doing right. If you do it right - you may as well do it best. If you do it best - you won't need to tell anybody - they'll know and so will you."
Things have certainly evolved in that arena - false claims of excellence, shouts and blasts of better/best - often are demonstrated and exhibited with the realities of poor quality and lack of substance - in just about every field imaginable.
So Mammy, Thanks! After all these years - your mantra of "If something's worth doing..." is firmly instilled in my life, business and overall being. I knew the reason for this blog would emerge eventually ... and there you have it
This may all fall under the umbrella of "TMI" about the Bradbury clan and Santa Fe Hospitality Group - but history matters. And Mammy is part of New Mexico's history. My mother was born in New Mexico, too... in a little town called Gibson; it no longer exists - my grandfather owned a store there - it was just north of Gallup. If anyone's interested - my Mom died recently at 94; we brought her here to Santa Fe from Ocala, Florida where she surrounded herself with horses, learning and family Navajo rugs.
Mammy's early life was less gentile - She packed a pistol on her hip, played her piano with panache (the piano is in our family room - in need of tuning - but intact and a proud part of family lore) and taught the young and old with passion and fresh hot bread - coffee and cocoa. She must have embroidered sometimes while she taught - because we have a trunk full of her work - and I can't imagine any other time when she sat still long enough to create her tablecloths, napkins and such.
Thank, Mammy. You did good.
