Sunday, May 9, 2010

Some things I learned and some I didn't from my mom


(For the record, I'm the adorable one in the middle with the Fred Flintstone feet.)

(This is a repost from last Mother's Day, but everything still applies.)

What my mother didn't teach me that I learned the hard way:

  • that forgiveness is a gift you give yourself

  • that God is my everything

  • that having a newborn is not for the faint of heart

  • that seeing your child in pain is excrutiatingly more difficult than your own pain

  • that I really am creative, just not in the same ways she is

  • that not all men are creeps

  • that marriage isn't a fairy tale, it's a constant work in progress

  • that just because it's true, doesn't mean it's not gossip

  • that mother's aren't perfect, but love covers a multitude of sins

Things I learned from my mother:
  • to make lemonade when life give you lemons, even if it's still a little bitter

  • that creativity and a little elbow grease can go a long way

  • to respect your elders even if you don't agree with them

  • to always say please and thank you

  • that steamed rice goes with just about anything, even spaghetti sauce

  • that when there's nothing to laugh about, you can always laugh at yourself

  • to always put the needs of others before your own

  • to do an honest day's work

  • that happiness is a warm puppy - even the 3 legged variety

  • that sometimes life is just about endurance

  • that actions always speak louder than words

  • to pick myself up and dust myself off

  • to never say "I'll never do that with my kids."

  • that the youngest child usually gets their way by means of wearing you down

  • that the youngest child gets sucker punched in the back when mom's not looking (okay, my sisters and brother taught me that one - frequently)

  • that cute goes a long way, but character will go the distance

  • to be a subservient and submissive wife (okay that one didn't really take)

  • that giving to others is infinitely more satisfying that hoarding things for yourself

  • that true beauty comes from within

Thanks, mom. I am a better mom because I am your daughter.


Happy Mother's Day to all you moms, daughters, grandmothers and granddaughters!

7 comments:

jake said...

I should do something like this for my mom... instead I just got her one of those digital photo frames...

On another note I think I want to meet your husband (to be a subservient and submissive wife...) I bet he's got a great sense of humor.

Happy Mother's Day, Kathy!!

Cassandra Frear said...

These are some good life lessons. I could see a month of posts on what my mother taught me. One lesson per post.

Okay, okay...Not everyone would be interested in seeing that much of this.

But I would like it! :-)

Louise Gallagher said...

Hi Kat -- my eldest daughter wrote a post on her blog today about me :) (How I survived myself) -- that's the name of her blog, not the post. The post is simply -- My Mother.

Now, I entered her blog with a little bit of ohoh.... and I finished it crying.

I hope your mother reads what you wrote. And, I hope, in her reading she dances in the truth of knowing -- she participated in the miracle of your birth and what a miracle you are.

Hugs

Happy Mother's Day!

Sandra Heska King said...

Great lessons, Kathy. I especially like "just because it's true doesn't mean it's not gossip." Well, actually, I like them all!

Candy said...

Love this edge of Deepdish Katdish. What I want to know is did she teach you to crack yourself up, or was that self-taught? It's contagious.

Happy Mother's Day to you and Mama Katdish!

Michelle DeRusha said...

I like these lists indeed. Particularly the part about not saying "I'll never do that with my kids" (I've eaten my words on that one too many times to count). And the one about the wife...not doing so well on that one!

Duane Scott said...

"that cute goes a long way, but character will go the distance"

Haha... so true. That's what I've been told.