To Be Like You

The longer I'm a mother, the more I appreciate what my own mother taught me. I think this is mostly because I'm realizing these are things that make my mom extra special to me since not everyone had/has a mom like mine. Here are a few of my favorite things my mom taught me (whether formally, by example or both). These are things that are important to me and I hope I can pass on to my children.

Alternative Medicine - We didn't go to the doctor much in our house. My mom was educated on natural and homeopathic solutions and cures for common sicknesses and would explore those options first. I appreciate that more even now that I'm a mom myself. I don't like the idea of always medicating myself or my children and because of my mom, I have found a happy medium in my life. My sisters and I were talking about how glad we are for a mom that taught us that since we have a lot of friends who don't know about alternative options. Sometimes I take the things my mom taught us for granted, assuming everyone's mom taught them that. Times like this make me realize that's true and I am blessed to have learned that from my mom.

Confidence - Not so much in the "I'm so cool and everybody loves me" sense, but confident in the person I choose/strive to be. I learned to change something instead of complain about it and then be confident in my decision. I didn't get much sympathy if I complained about something I could change. She taught me to develop my own opinions and be confident in them and not do things just because someone else was doing it or just because a doctor told me to do it. She taught me to speak up and ask questions and educate myself so I could be confident in my decisions.

Healthy eating habits - We didn't really eat processed foods growing up. My mom prepared our meals from scratch and we rarely went out to eat. Fast forward a few decades and I am so glad that fixing meals for my family from scratch using whole grains and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables was a natural transition from the meals I ate from my mom. I didn't have to learn how to cook when I got married nor did I have to learn the basics of healthy eating. Of course there's always room for improvement and I'm constantly learning and education myself about healthy eating. I'm always looking for ways to improve our eating habits, but I'm grateful for a solid foundation I was given growing up.

Independence - My mom has always been very independent. She doesn't depend on other people and doesn't wait around for someone else to do the things she wants. For example, my dad was gone a lot for work and that never held her back from making memories with us. She took us on vacations across state lines and camping by herself. Just like my mom, I love it when my husband can join us, but if he can't, it doesn't stop us from going. However, I'm not sure I can do the camping thing by myself. That might be beyond my realm of independence. Mostly because I'm a big chicken (unfortunately, I did not inherit my mom's bravery).

Service - My mom serves a broader group of people than probably anyone I know. She is busy just like the rest of us but always makes time to serve and help others, especially her family. Even now that I'm an adult with children of my own, I am heavily influenced by her when it comes to service, both by being the recipient and having her encourage me to not make excuses when I have a chance to help. I have had opportunities to serve multiple times in the last few months. Even without that, it's been a really busy few months. I have had a lot of really good reasons not to accept and/or volunteer for the opportunities that crossed my path and most people would have accepted it as a good excuse. Each time I have thought, Ugh, I don't have time for that right now. But because of the example I have, I know service isn't always convenient. In fact, it's rarely convenient. These days people will excuse their way out of opportunities to serve not realizing that part of service is sacrifice, but just like any other sacrifice, we get something better. I did the service and each time my energy and time was blessed to more than compensate for what I had sacrificed.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers (just a week late), especially my own mom that has influenced so much of the type of mother I try to be every single day.