5 Reasons I Love My Mother

With Mother’s Day approaching this Sunday I wanted to reflect on five of the many things that make my mother such an amazing person and friend.

She’s completely giving.

I think the moment I was born my mother forgot she existed. She has always put our family first and has never once made me consider that she wanted anything above our happiness. She gives of her time, resources, patience, energy and love. After all, this is the amazing woman who chewed through a cup of coffee I made her in about first grade because I didn’t know the difference between instant and ground coffee. Her heart is for others and I have received nothing but blessings from it.

She’s the best cheerleader.

We all need someone in our corner telling us we can do the impossible or run one more mile or walk on stage. Not only is my mother overwhelmingly encouraging to our family, she will be at every practice, performance, game and program with the biggest smile ready to cheer you on. Bless her heart sitting through “Oh Mickey” on endless repeat at my dance recital or sitting in the snow to watch my brother play ball. Most of her free time was spent driving me to dance practice, listening to me talk about boys, sitting in dressing rooms for hours and more but regardless of the challenge I faced, I left her company feeling that I could do almost anything.

She is fantastic in a crisis.

I am good at thinking on my feet but I do not handle a crisis well. I spiral quickly into panic, anxiety and fear. My mother on the other hand faces most challenges with the cool temperament that makes for an amazing leader (and a great teacher). She doesn’t panic. She doesn’t feel nauseous. She doesn’t need to sit down. She thinks clearly and quickly. It’s mesmerizing. I never truly appreciated this ability until I came running into her workplace, hysterical, to tell her my father had a heart attack and was at the hospital awaiting surgery. Her response? “I told him that’s what I thought it was three days ago.” She then calmly got in the car, picked my brother up and headed to the hospital to handle that challenge. All the while my head was spinning and I thought I was going to throw up. I don’t know how she does it but it’s incredible!

She’s got a great sense of humor.

Some of my favorite memories of moments with my mother involve just laughing over the most ridiculous things. We have spent many a night staying up late playing cards or talking and more often than not it ends with us laughing until our sides ache over nothing at all. My father is definitely the comedy of our household but my mother is great at making unexpected quips that take you so off guard and send you into a fit of hysterics. Some of my favorite times with her were our monthly road trips to visit my grandmother. Not once in nearly eight years did we ever turn the radio on and I was never bored.

She’s sentimental.

Personality wise, I’m more like my father but I get my sentimental nature from my mother. I love old things. Old movies, songs, fashion, pictures, memories and more. I’m not a crier but I will cry over a Clydesdale commercial...just like Mother. I don’t love having my picture taken but I treasure the grainy, double exposed mess of family pictures I own...just like Mother. And while I don’t get really attached to clothes there are some pieces I can’t help holding onto because of what they represent...just like Mother. Her sentimentality and attachment to the past has given me some of my greatest treasures like this dress which she wore to her wedding rehearsal nearly forty years ago. We probably bond over the sentimental more than anything else and I love that.

Ultimately, I have been blessed beyond measure when it comes to my mother and while we don’t always see eye to eye I am forever grateful to have been raised by a woman that makes me proud, teaches me daily and one whom I can call a true friend.