The "post" Mother's Day Post

Yesterday was Mother's Day.  I spent a lot of the day thinking about my mother, what it means to me to be a mother, and all the mothering that others had done to me over the years.  I thought about all my friends who are mothers...women I admire, and aspire to be more like. 

I did a lot of thinking about my own children...what have I been teaching them?  How have I impacted their (relatively) short lives so far?  And what will they say about me when I am gone one day?

When I was growing up, I would scoff at things my mother would say and do.  My daughter does that to me now.  She is almost 13, and I have suddenly become a lot less smart than I used to be.  I remember that stage in my life.  My mother would tell me things and I would think "hey, what do you know, Mom?"

As I get older, I find that I say and do things that my mother did and said...and still does and says.  I act more like her...I talk like her, and even my handwriting has become more like hers.  As I have gotten older, I have fallen into habits that she used to have (and I used to make fun of!).  Her craftiness...oh how I used to laugh at her crochet hooks, her paintbrushes all over the house.  She just looks around my house now and laughs...laughs at my crafts all over the place.

Yes...I have become my mother in so many ways.  Yet, different in so many ways as well.  And you know what that tells me?  It tells me that my mom has been an incredible mother.  She has passed on her good traits to me...her good habits, her good thoughts.  And, at the same time, she has allowed me to evolve into my own person.  I look back at the times she held on, and also at the times she let go.  I only pray that I will so such a good job with my children.

Perhaps, one day...in the far future, my own daughter will say and do things that I say and do.  Only then will I know what a good job I have done.  Hopefully, at that point, my daughter will think so too!