More Than Words - Recollections of my Mother

 

Did you ever think about the things your mother taught you? Maybe it wasn't always through words but through her actions. Since it's Mother's Day, I thought about all the things my mother did and said to help mold me into the woman I am today. I'm sure there are more but these randomly popped into my head.

My mother taught me faith.She used to say that even if you can't see something (faith), it's there. You just have to believe. 

She taught me kindness and how to be a friend.
How to cook for people you love.
How to organize a home and a life.
How to play sports and cheer others on.
How to write a thoughtful letter.
How to dress with class and confidence.

I still remember shopping with her. She would pick something off the rack and ask me to try it on. I would look at it and think, “No way. That's awful.” But she would push me to try it anyway. And somehow, she was almost always right.

She also taught me creativity and how to be resourceful without ever calling it that.

One year for Girl Scouts, we needed to make an art project. Everyone else’s projects felt polished and so put together. I was discouraged but then, my mother told me to look around at what I already had and create something from there.

I gathered sea glass and shells and made a picture of a little house and fence. To my surprise, I won a ribbon.

Looking back now, I realize she was teaching me something much bigger than art. She was teaching me to trust my own ideas, to use what was already in my hands, and to find beauty in ordinary things.

As I think about it now, almost all of the things my mother taught me had to do with life, love, family, creativity, and how to move through the world with kindness.

I had a successful career and she was incredibly proud of me. But the lessons that stayed with me most were not really about work. They were about how to live.

She taught me how to love deeply.
How to mother.
How to care for animals with gentleness.
How to laugh.
And maybe most importantly, how to laugh at yourself.

Some of life’s greatest lessons are never spoken out loud.
They're learned in kitchens, car rides, phone calls, holidays, hard days, and ordinary moments that we barely notice.

And somehow, years later, we realize we've become a little bit like them.
Sometimes I look down at my hands and see my mother’s hands looking back at me. 

Happy Mother’s Day to the women whose love shaped generations.

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