Heroes

When I was young, my mom did lots of things to make sure my brother and I were raised, instead of just growing up. She got up and made us breakfast every day. She made dinners. Every day, the floors were vacuumed and mopped, the furniture dusted, and often the bathrooms scrubbed. I remember being sick from school, watching her work. On top of that, she did other jobs during the day, running errands, fixing things, needful projects. And she volunteered for school. As I got older, she volunteered elsewhere, too. She took us to the Smithsonian on weekends (when I was very little, we lived in PG County. When we got older, we kept going, just not as often.) She had watercolor paints, or playdough, or clay, or other projects for us to do. We spent a lot of time in the kitchen when I was the age of my boys. When we got older, we spent a lot of time out in the woods.

I wish I was more like my mom. My kids eat an awful lot of hot dogs and not enough pot roast (even with my crockpot, which my mom didn't have). My house? Disaster city. I have lots of materials for projects. They spend a lot of time in boxes or plastic bins. I have a "to do" of needful projects a mile long. My vacuum cleaner spends weeks in silence in the back hall (not even the closet where it belongs).

But I do my best. And one thing my mom taught me is that if you have the opportunity to try something new, try it. If an elephant presents itself, climb on its back. I think Joey is picking up on the lesson quite well- and trying new things is a great strength to have.

Thanks, Mom.