When Did I Become My Mother?

I love my mom dearly.  She is one of my best friends and it is rare that we go more than a day without talking.  Sometimes I really struggle when she goes on trail rides down in Kentucky or Tennessee because there is no phone service in most of those places.  I enjoy talking to my mom. 

That said, when I was growing up, sometimes things between my mom and I were a little tense.  My mom was a teacher, so she dealt with obnoxious teenagers all day and then had to come home and deal with one.  I can not imagine that was fun.  There were times that we would get really frustrated with each other, especially when it came to sports and school.  I always remembered thinking, "If I'm ever a mom, I'm never going to say that to my kids." or thinking that I would never get so upset with my kids if they don't perform perfectly.  I know I'm not the only one here.  As parents, don't we all think that?  We say that we are never going to be our parents.

If my mom reads this, she is going to shake her head and laugh.  Because, I have totally become my mother.  I watch my children, and I just completely hear myself saying things that she used to say to me.  Whether it is with L playing soccer or telling me about her day at school.  Or J not listening and me having to repeat myself 18 times.  Or M getting into everything.  The things that come out of my mouth are things that my mom totally yelled at me as a kid.  At L's game on Sunday, I yelled something out to her and just started cracking up.  I completely sounded just like my wonderful mother. 

As I think about it, I realize that it is a good thing I have become my mother.  My mom was and is a wonderful mother.  She has taught me what it means to be a good mom, to have my children respect me, to have them respect others, and to respect themselves.  I can teach my kids to do this because she taught me to do these things.  She taught be to have a good relationship with God and even though I struggled for some years, she was right there beside me to help make sure I could find my way back.  I know that I can be there for my children as the learn about their faith.  She taught me to love myself (and we know that is a never ending battle) and how to be a positive woman.  I know that I will be able to teach my girls to be positive and have respect for themselves and I will be able to teach M to be a positive young man and for him to respect any young women he encounters in life.

Please do not think that I think I am a perfect Mom.  I know I am not, I struggle daily!  And as much as I love her, I know my mom isn't perfect either.  But, she is strong and has taught ME how to be strong.  I think having a strength in faith, a strength in oneself, and a strength of the heart are some of the most important things, especially when it comes to parenting.  After all, if you don't have the strength to believe in yourself, how on earth are you going to teach your children to have strength in themselves?

I know that this post about my mother is a little past Mother's Day, but I have been trying to phrase it in my head about how I wanted it to go.  I just want my mom to know how much I love her and how much I appreciate all that she does for me and all that she has taught me.  She has taught me how to be a parent.  I pray that one day, my children will be saying the same thing about me.  And, since she taught me so well, I know that they will. 

Thank you Lord for the wonderful mother you gave me.  You couldn't have done better.  Thank you mom for everything.  I love you.  You inspire me daily.

Before I started this post, I had a little writer's block and my wonderful friends on Facebook gave some suggestions and I said I would discuss them.  Here you go!  Enjoy!

1.)  "Does Man have Free Will or is he merely a series of learned responses to environmental stimuli?"  I have no idea, but in my mind, it is like this: God has a plan, but he also gave us Free Will.  He knows our hearts and knows what will happen, but He allows us to make our own mistakes.

2).  "A peanut is neither a pea nor a nut."  A peanut is in the legume or bean family.

3). The Spring that disappeared into 86 degree weather.  I live in Indiana.  One of the great things about Indiana is the beautiful change of seasons.  Apparently this year though, someone missed the message.  We have completely skipped Spring.  It went from cold and wet and frosty to hot and humid.  It is crazy.  I like spring, I don't know what happened to it, but I know that in a couple of months, Indiana better not forget Fall!!

4.)  Did chicken or egg come first???  I heard this joke not too long ago.  Be warned, it is a little racy!!  The chicken and egg were laying in bed.  The egg is relaxed and almost asleep.  The chicken is irritated and upset.  The chicken says, "Well, I guess that answers THAT question!".  I hope I didn't offend anyone there!  It is just a joke!

5.)  Did the taco or taco salad come first?  I am going with the taco.  I do not think that you can really have a taco salad without first having a taco.  Great.  Now I want a taco.

6.)  Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?  I have absolutely NO idea.  Oh, the things we ponder!

Thanks to my Facebook friends for the questions.  Pretty humorous!!  I hope you have had a fantastic day!!
With Love!