Mother's Day...Installment # 2

Since my parents, brother/sister in law, and two other sisters are all out of town this weekend, leaving only 2 of us in town I decided to skip church this morning. Lord forgive me, but I just needed a day to sleep past 6:30 and a day to rejuvenate myself and possibly stay in bed all day under my new down comforter - I haven't quite decided yet.

Instead I decided to start catching up on the blogs I've missed over the last few days to see if there are any new post. And because I stalk, I mean frequently read the PW site because one she's hilarious, and two I think I'm living vicariously through her since I've always wanted to be a cowgirl with my own farm...but I digress and that's another story for another day. Anyway, back to reality, her post today was about the influence her mom and grandma had on her. She asked her readers the following: Please share about the women in your life—how they shaped you and influenced your thinking, how they impacted the way you think. And naturally because I'm in a sappy mood today since it's Mother's Day.... don't ask why Mother's and Father's day always brings tears to my eyes and leaves me weepy for the day. I started thinking about her question. As I started thinking, I also started writing and below is what flew onto paper. Keep in mind I had to make myself stop writing , so there is a lot that is left out here but had I continued I might have ended up with a 20 page dissertation for Mother's Day.

I would say that my whole life has been surrounded by strong woman; my mom, Grandma B (mom’s mom), my Grandma D (dad’s mom), and now my mother in law. There are five kids (4 girls and 1 boy) in my family so raising us wasn’t exactly an easy task because even though we are all from the same family we are all so different. Totally different friends (as in the type of people we hung around), different likes, dislikes, learning styles, personalities, and the list goes on and boy does it. There wasn’t a boring day to be had around our house and my mom was always on her toes. We were fortunate enough to have a mom who stayed home with us while my father ran his business to support us. My mom was always dropping us off at school, picking us up (we never rode the bus only because we lived on a farm and the bus didn’t come to our house), helping with homework, science fair projects, and she always encouraged us to get involved. Whether we got involved through team sports or clubs at school; she was always pushing us (but in a good way) to be a part of something even when she knew it meant she was going to have to be our taxi. She was involved with our schools, enjoyed going to our high school sporting events, and all my friends loved her. I had a few friends who called her their adopted mom because she was an encourager to them as well when things around their house weren’t so good. My mom is gentle, caring, loving, tender, quiet, strong, has a sweet giggle, and although sometimes hard to make her have a laugh out loud but when she does it’s normally uncontrollable and followed by tears because she’s letting out a good one. With now 3 of her 4 daughters married we can only hope that one day we’ll be the kind of mom she is.

I grew up in a family that possessed, and still possess, strong Christian morals and values and I would say that’s because of my grandmothers who passed that down to my mom and dad. We used to laugh and say my Grandma B had a direct like to God because when that woman prayed it was like the heavens opened; she had such a beautiful spirit about her. People who met her fell in love with her instantly; you just smiled every time you saw her. She gave some of the best hugs too; she held you tight every time like it might be her last. Thinking about the day back in November 2002 when I got my phone call of her passing it still brings tears to my eyes; it’s just not something I’ll ever forget because that was a day we lost one of the most influential women in our family. My grandmother D is still alive, in her mid 80’s, still acts as though she’s 60 and she is the cutest thing in the world. She too posses a deep love for Jesus that she loves to share with family and strangers. She dealt with some rough blows for many years while my my grandfather lived with Alzheimers but she managed to keep her wits about her and kept him at home with her taking care of him even up to the day of his death. She’s a strong woman, a faithful woman of God, fun loving, will drop everything she’s doing to help someone, is a little scatter brained, hates caterpillars, but loves life. And oh how we all love her and her daily stories of life.... not sure how she manages but 9 times out of 10 she's in some sort of pickle throughout the day. And she's a cool hip grandma on Facebook too... :))

I couldn’t be more proud of the women in my life, I love them all madly, and know they have shaped me into the woman I am today. And for that I’m forever grateful.