I Am My Mother's Daughter*

My mother is such a beautiful person, inside and out. Isn't she just darling as a young mother? (I'm the one in the pink shirt.) Well, she still is, and now she's a darling grandmother. I find myself becoming more and more like her every day. Sometimes it's small things...like the way my sneeze sounds just like hers (in that explosive way) or the way I smile so easily like her. But there are other traits that I'm discovering, and sometimes developing, that mirror her.

Jack of all Trades. My mom is a Jack of all Trades. She can sew, quilt, bake bread and cinnamon rolls and cookies, make crafts, create games or puzzles, make up stories, sing, scrapbook, and work up a sweat. She enjoys creating things...especially if she's creating something for someone else. She rarely makes something just for herself. But I often hear her talking about a creative project that she's making for someone else. I can't call myself an expert at anything. But I sure like to dabble a little in everything. I enjoy cooking, baking, scrapbooking, creating things for my home, and I will sew (although I don't enjoy that as much as she does).

Thrifty. In the 80s, my Mom would stretch one box of Mac n' Cheese to feed the whole family of six (by adding more macaroni...yeah, it was bland). She still reuses aluminum foil and sandwich baggies. She knows how to shop a bargain, and she won't just buy something just because it's on sale. I've been amazed at how we've been able to get through all these years of school by just living on the student loans...thanks, Mom, for your lessons on thrift. I learned it, and now we live it.

Mom, Dylan, Me

Mothering. My Mom is the best mother. Period. Every time I visit her with my kids, she does things with them that bring back memories to me of my childhood. She has driven with me on two separate road trips with the kids...and she's amazing at entertaining them with songs, games, stories, and her love. She loves nursery rhymes and singing traditional family songs. She valued each of my siblings as individuals and allowed us to pursue our own interests and discover our own talents. I played the piano, my sister danced, my brother played soccer, my other sister excelled at the piano (she had to get better than me...and she did it), and my "baby" sister loves arts and crafts (specifically scrapbooking).

And she's still my mom. I'm still learning from her. After Colden was born, I just couldn't do anything from start to finish without being interrupted. When my Mom visited, I watched how she would rock Colden to sleep, put him down, then do some work. When he woke up a few minutes later, she stopped what she was doing, picked him up, settled him down, put him back down again, and returned to her task. She did it naturally. I learned so much in those few minutes.

*This post was inspired by a friend, thanks, Emilie, for the inspiration.