The Ozmerican Life

Today is the day my mom was born so I thought it fitting to say a little something...


Where to even start....As I sit here reminiscing on all the little happenings of my life, everyone of them has my mom in it. She was always there...I mean ALWAYS there. She was there when I woke up, there when I went to bed, and always there in between.


I do know in fact, that she wasn't always there...she did have obligations outside of our family. As I parent my own children, I'm becoming increasingly aware that it's not what actually happened, or the reality of a situation, but the memories of my children, and how they interpret those times that they will take with them. So for the record, I remember my mom always being there.

I remember calling home during the cold winter school days because I forgot my shoes and would be completely mortified wearing my snow boots around all day. My mom to the rescue. A forgotten assignment, uniform piece, or practice clothes. My mom to the rescue. When I needed help on a project or paper...my mom was there. To this day I still can't write a decent introductory or conclusion paragraph...and to all my teachers...Yes, my mom did it for me :)

I always sat right next to my mom at the dinner table. We had assigned seating, another genius move by my mom. My kids currently squabble every night about who gets to sit next to Daddy. Although, I'm pretty sure it was the fact that I was the youngest and needed the most supervision especially when it came to gagging down my glass of milk. But I'll just keep thinking it was because she liked me best.

She was at every concert, award ceremony, play, and sports game. Even when she let me play Fall Softball and it was October and snowing...there my mom sat through the whole thing.

I can't recall a single event that I was involved in that my mom wasn't right there in the crowd. I'm sure there was one or two, but those aren't my memories. And I also rarely remember getting a no for an answer when I asked her for help of any kind.

However, I did hear the word "no" a lot. I heard it when I asked to go somewhere that my mom wasn't sure was safe. A "no" for dating boys before I was 16. A "no" to staying out past 12:30. A "no" to letting me quit something I had started. A "no" when I thought I did a good enough job, when in fact it was not even close to my best effort. I look back on things now and see that she always knew exactly when to the the reins out and give me some freedom, and when they needed to be pulled back in.

Wise and fair parenting was my mom's greatest strength. I think I was a pretty good kid...didn't get in to too much trouble. I attribute that to all the "No's" I heard. At the time, some of them made me an angry teenager thinking it was obvious that I knew way more than my mom did about life as most teenagers do. I thought I was quite capable of making good decisions completely on my own. I now see, I was a good kid becuase of all the "No's". I am so thankful for them.

Being the youngest I was able to watch all 5 siblings go before me. By the time I moved into the decision making years, I was well aware that there were consequences for every thing I did, be it good or bad. I loved my mom, admired her, and respected her. I didn't obey out of fear, but out of love. I wanted her to be proud of me. It was because she never let me down and I wanted to do the same for her.

My sister, 5 years older than me, were discussing what we were taught. Being that many years apart, our childhood experiences were a bit different...but in the end there were some soild principles that we were both taught. Our best was always good enough, even if it wasn't perfect, and she knew somehow exactly what each of our best's was. We never felt compared to any other sibling...which with 5 there was plenty of comparing that could have occurred. We were encouraged to do what we enjoyed no matter what everyone else was doing. We were taught how to live within our means...she was sure to always make sure that depsite where they were at that moment in life, there was a beginning, and a tough one that they worked very hard for. We were confident with who we were and self esteem was high despite any of our failures. We were made to be hard workers, even if it was something we despised...like pumpkins and piano lessons for me :) We learned to take pride in a job well done and not step on anyone else in the process. We have all taken different paths through our early adult years but have all seemed to turn out all right with a solid foundtaion. She has trained us well and now that we are all older, we have not departed from it. At the time we both ended the conversation with, "We have no idea how she did it, but we want to do the same!"

I now think it was because she was there. Always there to overhear, observe, talk, listen with all areas of our life. There were of course a few things that slipped past her and the good children that we are, of course tease her about the now :) But she knew who we were and knew most everything we did.

And now I am raising my own children...in her footsteps. She has shown me how to parent from birth and continues to do so. I'm thankful that she was blessed with the chance and chose to raise 6 children. Every individual child brings different challenges and trials, joys and triumphs. Her experience, wisdom, and knowledge is beyond words. I am abundantly blessed to have and incredible example and resourse right next door :)

Proverbs 17:6 says "Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children." I thank God that he gave me a Mom that I am so proud of. And I pray that I would follow her example so that my children are indeed her crown. That they would love, appreciate, respect, and value me as much as I do my Mom.

Happy Birthday Mom...We Love You!!!