Q: Who taught you how to live?
A: Mom.
(For Lent, I've decided to write 40 posts about people I love / made me who I am / thankful to know / appreciate)
We, my family, tease her a lot. It's our only defense to her, at times, brutal honesty spoken with a connotation of care. For example: last Sunday she questioned how I was going to keep my weight loss off. I told her I didn't know yet, which was met with the soon to be texted line:
"You need to find a girlfriend who will cook healthy for you." (My sister really laughed at that - actually called my mom moments after the text was received)
One of the better lines in history was spoken before my current diet, "When you buy a couch, don't get a cheap one. You are big and you don't want it to break."
Enough kidding aside, this woman raised me. I'm thankful I was raised in an era (and had a Father successful enough) to allow my Mom to put her career on hold to raise my sister and I. Her career was put on hold, but it was not getting rusty. I like to think her transition back to being a full time teacher was eased because she was spending her years teaching us. She's the reason why people at work come to me for grammar advice.
The sight of my Mom laughing is one of my favorite images. It doesn't matter if it's from something by me (in fact, I'm so happy to witness her laughing at a joke from my Dad that I'm excited to be there experiencing it). But if I can get that woman to laugh I feel like I've accomplished something.
If you can, call your Mom and tell her that you love her.
Excuse me, I have a call to make.
