My Mother

Scott and I got home from a weekend in Idaho and I did a lot of thinking on the way home. Remembering family trips that I had as a kid and other fun and happy memories with my family. I started thinking a lot about my mother and reading her blog tonight before going to bed reinforced my thoughts. I laid in bed for a while with my thoughts running crazy and my eyes trying hard not to tear up, and I just had to get it out so I can sleep tonight.

As I read her blog about my brother's first wife, Emily, it really made me think. My mother is an amazing woman. When I think of the pure love of Christ, she has it. She has an amazing love for others and for her children. Emily didn't come from the best home life. She didn't have much of a relationship with her father or mother. My mother completely accepted and loves her as her own child. My mother gave her love to Emily, with no judgements, expectations, speculations, or conditions.....she gave unconditional love. To welcome someone into our family and make them feel like they've always belonged, that's amazing to me. Even when my brother and Emily divorced, we didn't lose Emily, we just lost the "in law" part. My mother and her have maintained a close relationship ever since. When Emily was getting remarried, she brought the guy home to meet MY parents, because they've become her parents. And here my mother is, crying over the hardships and trials Emily is facing in Venezula, like she would over one of us. To me that's the pure love of Christ.

Even with that said, that's only a small part of what makes my mother amazing. My mother hasn't had it easy raising us but I know that she did the best she could, giving us EVERYTHING that she had. When it came to protecting us, there was no question, she would do everything in her power and give up anything necessary to do so. I don't have to wonder if she would have, because when life gave us those trials, she stood up to them.

When my mother was left to protect us from the one person she never should have had to, our father, she did it with no hesitancy. She was not only left to put the pieces of her life back together when she left him for our safety, but she had to put us kids back together too. She never made us feel alone or isolated in our pain. She was always there for us and showed us that we were there for each other too. She was everything to us and still is. The only happy memories I have as a child come from her and because of her. During that hardest time of our life, we literally had nothing, but she made us feel like we had everything. We had no car, but she would save money to get us a taxi to school on rainy days. She would arrange to get a car to take us on little day trips. She taught us to share what we had when all we had was a stew for Thanksgiving dinner, because it was all we could afford. She taught us to be grateful for what we have because there were always those that were less fortunate than us.

When my mother married Tom, that was a blessing to our whole family. We had the father we never really had. We had someone that protected us, loved us, fought for us, and truly loved my mother. He looked out for her and protected her the way she always had with us. Years later when Tom retired early on a disability retirement, it was hard for him to work anywhere that didn't hurt his back so much that he could hardly walk afterwards. My mother decided to go back to school to help support the family. While I was in high school, she used to drive an hour and a half to and from school everyday until she received her degree. She is such a hard worker and completely devoted to her family.

I know that my mother wishes she could have provided more for us. That things could have been different for us. But I want her to know that I wouldn't want it any different. She has provided me with so many things that money never could have bought.

She's not only been a mother, but a best friend. We have a close relationship, as do my sisters and brother and I as well, and it's because when times got hard she pulled us all together and taught us how to get through it, together. To end this I just want to say that MY MOTHER HAS MADE MY LIFE. And it's a happy one.