My mother. She's given me the best of times, she's given me...alright, I'll leave Dickens out of this. But I know a lot of people can relate to that feeling of "please don't get older and leave me" mixed with "please tell me you didn't just say that!"
When I think of where she has been, what she has experienced, and how she has loved us all in spite of our foibles (does that include anything that involved the law?) I want to erase the blackboard that lists life's 'dids' and 'didn'ts' and make her always proud of her past, and content with her present. Which of course includes her feelings about me. Hey, kids are born selfish and it's never more apparent than around Mom.
Mom was born during World War II and times were tough. Her dear Daddy went off to war and her mother worked in a factory, helping the efforts on the home front. A dear uncle never made it home from that war.
As the years passed things improved: the family was comfortable after much hard work and sacrifice. Nothing was given to them; everything was earned. No one complained.
Next thing she knew, my mother had her own brood, and at a young age. Mom made her own bread, dinner every day, had a garden, canned vegetables, did mountains of laundry with a wringer-style washer, ironed clothes. All of that. After we were all in school she was able to focus on her own desires and went back into the workforce, knowing no one there and having little skills.
Little skills at the beginning, but that changed remarkably. When the other clerks and typists took coffee and lunch breaks, my mother was too curious about the workings of her company and volunteered for anything that would help her learn more.
Her succession in jobs was just that; she was promoted time after time, eventually enjoying a marketing career as a respected mentor in her field.
This is the woman I know, a full-time mother who made her way into the business arena and gave the best she could to her company for decades.
What I am relating is probably considered a simple life by many, maybe even 'un'-remarkable. But I believe these are the very best kinds of people. They show up every day, do what is right, and try to do their best. And they do it over and over.
Tom Brokaw called people like this "The Best Generation". And I am so proud of my mother.
