|
Learning how to be me
Not letting Mother’s Day get lost in the shuffle
Thursday May 08, 2008
It’s seems like every week of every month is dedicated to some cause. Mental Health Awareness Week, Cancer Month, Heart and Stroke Month, Literacy Week … the list goes on. With everything else going on, it’s easy to lose the special days in the shuffle, but one day I refuse to forget is Mother’s Day.
I thought long and hard about what to get my Mom for Mother’s Day (and, even though I have come up with something, I cannot share it here because, being my Mother, she reads my column religiously). During my pondering, I thought back to what I’ve gotten her in the past. I’ve made cards, coupon books, dance routines choreographed especially for her. I wrote her several odes and a couple of stories. Then, I got my first job, and I started buying her “real” presents … until I took a pottery class a couple of years ago.
The first thing I made on my potter’s wheel was a pen holder. I painted a ladybug on it (I have a thing for ladybugs). It was pitiful. It was crooked, and you could still see my finger impressions from when I was making it. I thought, as a joke, I’d give it to my Mom as her Mother’s Day present. Well, wouldn’t you know, my Mom put it on her desk at work for the whole world to see. People must have thought she had a child in Kindergarten! I had meant it as a joke and had a “real” present for my Mom, but she loved that pen holder because I made it for her. It still sits proudly on her desk. So, as I was thinking about a gift to get her this year, I thought back to that pen holder and realized just what a lucky woman I am to have my Mother, and I’d like to tell you a bit about her.
My Mom makes up words, yet I know exactly what she means. My Mom laughs with her whole being. My Mom never sits still. My Mom is extremely intelligent and well-read. My Mom is beautiful and graceful. (I often tell her she looks like Princess Diana, and she promptly reminds me that, for the longest time, I thought my grandfather was Kenny Rogers … point taken). My Mom’s door is always open to anyone who needs a good meal, great conversation, a comforting hug, a quiet night in front of a fire. My Mom is the personification of home. My Mom is all these things, but the most important characteristic my Mother has is that she is accepting.
If I wasn’t living proof, I would not believe it was possible for a woman to give birth to a daughter as different from her as I am from my Mother. While my Mom is poise and tact, I am drama and intensity. My Mom is blond and fair, and I am dark. My Mom is stability while I am unpredictable. Yet, I am who I am because of her.
My Mom has given so much of herself to her children, but the most important gift she has given me is the freedom to be me. I am quite different from my Mom, despite how much I attempt to emulate her, yet she embraced every odd thing I did, and encouraged everything I set my mind to. She has talked me down from the peaks of unrealistic excitement and brought me up from the pits of despair. She fostered my writing, helped me make sense of my thoughts and was proud of my failures.
The lessons I learn from my Mom are profound and ongoing. She has had tragedy in her life, yet her strength has shown me it is possible to overcome whatever life throws in your way. She has shown me what it means to have faith.
Thank you, Mom, for all you have put up with (and, yes, I know you’ve put up with a lot), all you have done and all you do. From you, I learned how to be me, and I am truly grateful.
Yes, I am a very lucky woman because I was blessed with my Mother. I truly hope that this Mother’s Day, you all get to spend time with or remember your mothers and how they touched your lives in so many deep and profound ways.
So, to all you mothers, I wish you the happiest of Mother’s Days, and just know the simple act of placing a crooked, mangled pen holder on your desk or countertop has inspired the child who made it for you, and we thank you.
Tara Seel is the city editor of The Daily Graphic.
|
