A tribute to my mom

There are so many great things about my mom that I can hardly put them all on one internet and certainly would limit myself if I tried on one post. The most amazing thing is how much more I understand her as I get older. There were some things that it has taken me 31 years to completely comprehend. Here are a few momisms that become clearer everyday.....

We need to clean the house - I always thought that our house was clean. I wasn't tripping on anything. Besides if I clean, I may mess up my nails. Now today I know that if the blinds, baseboards, and ceiling fans are dusty then the house is not clean. For the record, my nails haven't been polished in years.

We just can't have anything nice - If you are a mom and never said this one, then kudos to you. I believe that it is the "mom's right" to practice this one everytime anything is broken, lost, or destroyed. As a kid only my room contained my stuff, so I rarely had any emotional attatchment to anything in the rest of the house. As a mom, I have valuables all throughout the house. When the ball is getting tossed around and my large elephant (that I painted myself) gets broken, then I usually pull out the line........ oh........ and stomp my foot.

We need to hurry - I'm not really sure that this word even exists to kids. They hear it come from their mother's lips, but it means nothing. My grandmother has a plaque in her bathroom that says how long a minute is depends on what side of the bathroom door you're on. I guess that time is really relative to where YOU are in life.

Did you tell them thank you? - I did this out of habbit and sometimes out of being reminded and really never completely understood what the big deal was. This was a great lesson from my mom and now I see how important it is to teach thankfullness to our children. How can they ever appreciate their Jesus if they don't understand how to be thankful.

This is for your own good - I really used to hate this one, the old tough love line. Good to me as a child meant getting what I wanted when I wanted it. "For my own good" turned out to be her greatest gift to me. I am a better person today because of this lesson. I think that she must have borrowed this directly from God. I know that he has often told me "no" only to bring to me a greater good. As a parent, I also undertand that sometimes this one brings heartache to me, too.

To my mom.....

I thank God for you! You have been my friend, my confidante, my hero, and most importantly a Godly parent. I'm sure that I have often broken your heart, but until now I never really understood your enormous love for me. As I strive to be the parent that God wants me to be I find myself looking to your example and hoping that I can be like you now that I am all grown up.