Sunday, May 14, 2006

It was a good day...


I am so blessed to have this beautiful young lady as my daughter. It is beyond words the love I have for her. Mother's Day used to be a difficult day. It gets easier as life goes on. But I never will forget the woman who gave life to me so that this picture could even happen. And in church today I was reminded that even though some of us are motherless, we can still remember and cherish the time that the Lord had given to us. I am grateful and I DO CHERISH ten years with my mother, Helen.
I was with Heather the other night at the Hallmark store and as quick as a wink I found myself choking up when I briefly looked down at a card paying homage to a mother from her daughter. It was just that quick! I looked around to see if I was the only crybaby and yep, I was! That's okay with me...I learned a short time ago to let it flow when it's there, don't push it down and ignore those emotions.
It's been said that motherless mothers are overprotective. Sometimes more so than mothers who still have their mothers. I feel that way so much! I sometimes feel I have kept our kids in a cocoon for the last 17 years. Part of me is proud of that and part of me is like, hey, did I equip them with enough to go out on their own with? When I think back to when our son turned 11. I went into freak out mode demanding that he follow me to the basement to master how to do the laundry. For some reason I felt like I had to hurry up and make sure he knew how to do this task because I didn't have a clue how to do the laundry or anything "householdy". So here is this poor kid wondering why playing outside one week was fine and now the following week he is being given a dissertation on whites, darks, fabric softener etc!! I had to look back at my experience and remember that first time I tried to do laundry by myself (and why did my father not do this?!). I was watching TV in 1980 and saw a commercial for CHEER detergent. The lady was pointing out the side of the box where it explained the three tempa-cheers and sorting laundry according to that. So, I promptly went up to the market and got us some CHEER (even though mom was an avid TIDE fan). And that is how I learned to do laundry. From a box of CHEER. Crazy. But on that day years ago with my son, I was determined that HE would not learn from a box of detergent as I did.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I lost two brothers 4 years ago and it propelled me into writing as a way to document our family story etc. I lost my dad this year. And was able to write a tribute to him before he died. Just wrote my mom's. I was drawn by the name of your blog.

Davenholl said...

haasenfoose, i love your name! Thanks for stopping by...come back soon! Your a great pal!

TL said...

Dav - you made it through Mother's Day with your Daughter by your side! Ya'll rock!!! And what a lovely photograph you guys took.

A little lesson in home/self care never hurt anyone, but I'd let your kids know why you are freaking out. You want to make sure they can take care of themselves and you have an early life experience to show how important that is.

That is one of the things I'm struggling with myself. All those little things I didn't really learn. Running a life all by yourself isn't easy!