Friendship Friday

It is hard to know even where to begin with my Mother.  I was very lucky to have two wonderful parents and a, not flawless, but happy childhood.  My father was the pragmatic teacher and my Mother was the soft touch.  Not that she wasn't willing to discipline ... she knew it was her job to guide us in life's lessons, but it was always followed with some form of TLC.  I think I will start with who my Mother was as a person.

My Mother was a person of many talents.  She was a dancer (she taught modern dance and performed in Orchesis at the University).  She was an actress.  She preformed in the Faculty Players Plays and became well know in the community ... a sort of local celebrity.  In fact, she played Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and got so much fan mail from all the children in the community that the mailman was bringing the bags to the house separate from our regular mail.  Her acting translated into some of her humor and personality.  She could dramatize a joke so that you were laughing hysterically even before she got to the punch line.  She was an artist and won many Best of Show with her pastels and water colors.  She was a gourmet cook ... my husband and I still talk about the elaborate meals she would create when we came to visit.  And best of all, she was a nurse.  To be exact, an OB nurse.  Every Saturday we went grocery shopping (that was back when $20.00 bought enough food to feed a family of four for a week).  As we would pass through the store isles we would be stopped constantly by women who remember my mother being there when their babies were born and wanted to thank her and tell her about their children.

It was was my mother's  nursing that reflected who my mother was at heart.  She loved life.  She loved everything that was a part of life as in nature, human, animal,plant, insects.  She would come and get my sister and me to show us a Garden Spider in her garden.  So excited and so respectful of all life.  She was kind, honest and her motto was "think positive".  She felt pain like everyone else, but she always looked for the positive even when it would seem to not be there.  These are the things that I carry with me and have become a part of me.  I treasure who my mother was and still is through me as I carry her legacy ... not that I come close to her accomplishments.  I just know that the joy I experience in life is there because my mother taught me to see the good in everything and everyone. To appreciate and nurture, to show compassion but have the strength to draw the line where it needs to be drawn.  I am sure I could go on and on, but I think I have said enough for now.  I love my mother everyday and I live my life in a way that I hope would make her proud.  My current pet project is to try to pass on some of her joy to my granddaughter so she can experience some of the same joy in life.  Thank you Mother, wherever you are ...