Remembering Mom

May 30th – traditional Memorial Day – was my mother’s birthday.  Most of her life, she shared her birthday with family, celebrating and making visits to cemeteries to remember those who had passed on from this life.

Today, I remember her and miss her.  She would have been 89 years old. 

I loved my mom!  What a great example she was of kindness, selfless love, and service.  She had a heart of gold, and spent her life trying to help others be happy.  I remember my dad describing her as “near perfect.”

Mother was a strong woman, and very capable.  She did suffer at times with low self-esteem, and often worried that she wasn’t good enough.  She worked hard, raised 6 children, and volunteered at church, not to mention that she was often checking in with her mother and siblings to make sure they were all doing well.

Since I was younger than her other children by almost 5 years, I spent a lot of one-on-one time with Mom.  Granted, we were often attending meetings, visiting relatives, working side by side.  I was her tag-along, and usually spent time observing or playing quietly so as not to disturb other important matters.  I learned a lot from Mom, especially by her example.  Those memories are very special to me now. 

Mom taught her children to recognize right from wrong and to do what is right.  She taught us to be observant, helpful, polite, good, and most importantly to be kind.  She would often sing songs to help teach her lessons: “Let’s Be Kind to One Another,” “Let us Oft Speak Kind Words to Each Other,” and “Kindness Begins with Me.”  Our mother was slow to offend, quick to love and forgive.  Oh, how the world could learn from her simple lessons!