Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Mother (as in maternal parent) (04/24/08)
-
TITLE: A Living Tribute to Mom | Previous Challenge Entry
By Judy Watters
04/27/08 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
Mom is determined (downright bull-headed) when she wants to do something bad enough…especially if it is something she isn’t supposed to do. Mom broke her hip 5 years ago and has had 3 operations to make it right. She’s on a walker now and hobbles when she walks. But that doesn’t stop her from bending over to pick up the tiniest bit of paper from the floor. Maybe she insists on bending over all the time because she has been told so many times that she can’t.
But Mom possesses many good attributes, too.
I remember winters so bad back home that we would walk on top of 4-foot drifts to get to the bus—and I remember Mom going out in the middle of the night to shovel a path so we wouldn’t fall down into the deep snow. That was love in action.
When we were snowed in for several days at a time, Mom would set the huge farm table with games such as Monopoly, Chess, Chinese Checkers and Scrabble and she played with us kids non-stop. That was joy in action.
I remember a night when cousin Carole and I were camping out in the front yard and we heard a terrible screaming and growling coming from the bend in the road. We ran to tell Mom, and armed with only a flashlight, she walked out into the black night because she thought it might be our cat Friendhouse, who had been missing for several days. That was caring in action.
I remember a New Year’s Day when Daddy dropped a hot coal from the furnace onto his foot and kiddingly, but mercilessly, blamed Mom because she was working that day and wasn’t home to take care of him. She took the blame and felt so bad about not being home…That was commitment.
I remember when I was sick from a cold or the flu, Mom would pull the living room couch out and make it into a cozy bed with lots of quilts. She would wait on me all day and make hot mustard and onion plaster to lay on my chest to draw the infection out. She wouldn’t let me watch TV, because it would hurt my eyes in my weakened state. That was the healing side of Mom.
I will never forget the glow on my mother’s face as she lovingly held my baby brother. That was beauty!
Mom’s love extended to the farm critters too…making sure the dogs were warm on winter nights with more hay or blankets…making them pancakes to warm their tummies. Always giving of herself for others.
It would be extremely difficult to use only one adjective to describe Mom—beautiful, caring, sharing, thoughtful, healing, tender, soft, strong, brave…but the one that stands out the most would be selfless. I have never known my mom to do anything out of selfishness. Everything Mom has ever done has been with the thought of other people’s well being in mind. Her many years of gardening, canning, and preparing meals…picking blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, elderberries, choke cherries and making all kinds of jams, jellies and preserves…never letting spur-of –the-moment visitors leave without something to eat…giving up her bedroom for guests was all to serve others and make them comfortable.
Mom, at 87, gets frustrated and even angry that her body will not do what she wants it to do at the speed she wants it to. But her heart is just as loving and caring as ever. God has truly blessed me with a Mom such as mine. I pray that her grandchildren and great grandchildren grow to have even an ounce of her heart.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.