Celebrate Mom
Mother’s Day is a time-honored tradition of celebrating your mom (or maybe a mom stand-in) and all she has done for you. Maybe you yourself are a mom and your children will lavish you with their love and some gifts. No matter how you celebrate this day or even if you celebrate this day, many of us have a ton of memories of times with our mom or some other special woman in our life who made us feel loved. So, celebrate mom by accessing those memories you have stored in your head. Maybe get out some old family photos and relive those good times.
celebrate mom ~
My mind is full of many memories of my mom. I am fortunate enough to not only still have my mom here with me (she lives right next door to me) but I am also blessed to be a mom and a grandma. I am rocking the whole mom thing this year! But seriously, I want to take a moment to share with all of you what makes my mom so very, very special.
Most of the time, this blog is something about pools or water fun (and don’t worry, we’ll get to that) but I think we all need to take a moment to stop and think about what it really means to be a mother. Every single one of us is guilty of taking our mom for granted. I know I did. I just always expected her to be there and that she would take care of me, take care of the house, the laundry, cook meals, make everything run smoothly, and so on. Not until I became a mom did I realize exactly how much work goes into being a good mom but also about how much moms sacrifice to give us what we need.
When I think back to my childhood, I really can’t remember my mom ever sitting down except to eat a meal. The crazy thing is, I didn’t really register that until last week. My mom is 84 years old and I just now realized that I cannot picture her ever sitting down. At least, not for her own rest or pleasure. I remember her sitting on the edge of my bed when we said prayers and she tucked me in. I remember her sitting down to read us our favorite bedtime stories. I remember her sitting down to help me get my snow boots on or to tie my shoe. I remember her sitting down when she drove me to my piano lessons, birthday parties, doctor appointments, swimming lessons, my friends’ houses, and to school. But, sitting down because she was tired or wanted to do what she wanted to do? Nope.
When I think back to my childhood, I can’t remember my mom saying “well, this is what I want to do.” She was always willing to take us kids sledding, swimming, shopping (really, shopping with teenage girls. Pretty sure she didn’t WANT to do that!). She happily took us on bike rides, on vacations, to the library (a million times!), and to concerts. I remember my mom smiling through it all.
My mom was selfless. She was willing to sacrifice for her family. She loved us completely and unconditionally. The cool thing is – me and my 3 siblings are all adopted. My mom always told us we were doubly loved: loved enough by our birth mom to unselfishly give us up to have a life she couldn’t give us and then loved by her and my dad so much that we never felt like we were adopted. We just always felt loved.
So, this Mother’s Day, like all the ones before this, I am celebrating my mom who has been the finest example of how to do the mom thing right. Thanks, Mom. I love you!
Oh yeah, here’s the part about water fun:
