Thoughts from the Deep End: Things My Mother Taught Me...

On this Mother’s Day, I would like to share some fantastic things my Mother taught me…

To see things from a positive perspective

My Mom was an optimist…

She always made you feel like things would work out… no matter what!

She had a knack for helping you see the bright side of things…

TEENAGE ME: ‘Mom! My boyfriend dumped me! (boo-hoo… Sniffle, sniffle)

MOM: ‘Don’t worry! He wasn't good enough for you anyways! NOW you are free for all of the other cute guys to ask out!’

See what I mean?

Miracle Worker!

To LAUGH

My Mom could laugh at herself…

She taught me that it’s all right to not be perfect and when you’ve totally messed up, it’s okay to find the humor in the situation and have a laugh… even at your own expense.

I put this to practice almost daily…
Which means that I mess up ALL the time, therefore I laugh A LOT!
(which I hear is very good for your health!)

To LOVE

Mom gave us love unconditionally, always…

I know that’s how a mother’s love is supposed to be, but have also seen that in real life, many kids don’t have that.
I’ve seen parents trying to relive their broken dreams by attempting to fix their own disappointments through their children, which sadly, usually spells misery for the one it’s inflicted upon.

I think that Mom loved us even more because of our shortcomings and encouraged
us to be ourselves… the best ourselves we could be…

To LIVE

Sadly, out of all the wonderful things that Mom gave to me, the one that drives me the most is the one that she didn’t realize she was teaching me…
To live life to the fullest.
Mom became seriously ill when she was still young… in her early sixties…
She fought her losing battle to cancer with guts and grace.

Throughout her illness, she told me over and over again that she was too young for this to be the end…

With those words, I realized just how precious life is…