They say you can never fully appreciate what your parents have done for you until you yourself become a parent. This has been true for me. And I even
appreciated what my mom did for me. But now I appreciate it even more. Given
my last post, I might sound like I'm complaining about motherhood. I don't mean that at all. I'm truly thankful for my newfound appreciation for my mom. And it's not just knowing that she roamed the floors at 2 a.m. with us when we wouldn't sleep. I see my own struggles and shortcomings and remember how she handled things with such grace sometimes. If there's one word I think most describes my mom, it's selfless. Or self-sacrificing. I am working on attaining this virtue, but I am far from it.
I have a good friend who married a guy half a world away from her, and made the tough decision to leave her home and live in his. (Sounds familiar : ) It was already hard enough for her to leave her family and her world, but she told me that for months before she left, her mom kept begging her not to leave and telling her how hard it was going to be on her. It wasn't until then that I fully appreciated how my mom had let me go when I moved to Slovakia. Only then did I realize how selfless her love was for me when she never once asked me not to go. And that's not to say it wasn't heartbreakingly hard for her to let me go.* Her only daughter. That's what's so incredible. I would wager to say it was probably the hardest thing she's even done and yet, showing true unconditional love, she loosed her hands and her heart and let me go. And if that wasn't hard enough, then we had babies. Her only grandbabies. And when they were born, not a prouder grandma have you ever seen. She loves those babies like they lived next door to her. And of course she tells us she misses us (desperately) and of course she wishes we were there, but in the end she wants what is best for all of us and lovingly releases that decision to me. And even as I write this, I realize that she will probably be uncomfortable with this post. But that just proves my point, because true love doesn't seek accolades. And my intention is not to give her a pat on the back. I just want to say thank you, mom, for loving me. For loving us. Thank you for your example. Because I'm pretty sure if the roles were reversed, I would act much more like my friend's mom. And I don't say that with judgement. It's natural to want to hold on to those you love. But it's supernatural to let them go. I hope someday very soon you will get to meet Rosy and see Lily (and us) again. In the meantime, here is the next best gift I can give to you. Happy Mother's Day, mom. We love you.
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| Demonstrating the effects of sun damage on skin. Wear your sunscreen, kids! |
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| My little sprite. Flitting around, singing along to the songs |
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| Mother Teresa photo shoot |
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| She asked to put on my sports bra so she could exercise to the lady on tv, but apparently found Ernie more appealing. I don't blame her. |
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| Out for a walk in the sun |
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| Sisters |
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| ''This is a five.'' |
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| Learning to sit |
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| My favorite new picture |
*My mom wasn't the only one to ''lose'' a loved one when I left. I don't want to downplay by any means my brothers' or my dad's loss. Or my own, for that matter. I just wanted to thank her because it's Mother's Day. We miss all of you more than you could know.
