Happy Mother's Day!

I wrote this paper titled Role Model for a class in high school in 1998, so I was a senior in high school. I don't remember giving this to my Mom, but right after I had Rosemary she let me have a copy of it. I haven't read it since 1998 (I couldn't bring myself to read this until just now.) and I thought I'd share it with you all. My Mom has always meant the world to me and I'm really curious as to what it says. Now again, please remember I was in high school when I wrote this. I am writing this word for word for you.

My mother has taught me many great lessons throughout my life. Deciding which three lessons are the most valuable has been a difficult decision for her. After thinking about it over time, she was able to select three of the most important. First of all, she wanted to teach me that my family should always be the most important people in my life. Growing up in a large family, my mom wanted to share with me the love and security that she felt as a child. She also wanted to make sure I knew that I can always count on my family for the support I need. Second, my mom wanted me to always believe in myself. She wants me to be happy with my life, who I am, and to accept the talents God gave to me. Third, my mom wants me to strive to be the best that I can be. She wants for me everything she has in life and more. My mom hopes that I will make the right decisions concerning my future, as well as the present. She hopes that she has done a good job raising me so that I can go into the world and be able to take care of myself. These lessons are just three of the lessons my mom wanted to install upon me.

My mother has left me, and continues to leave me, with many lessons of which are very valuable lessons. Lessons that I will value for the rest of my life. One lesson is being true to myself. This is because I have learned that sometimes it is hard to be different, and even if it means being outcast by others, sometimes You are the only one you have. Many times I have found that just being myself will Help me to find my true friends. I've also found that if I need to change in order to gain respect or a friend, that whatever I was changing for wasn't worth the trouble. This coincides with another lesson I have learned from my mom, which is respecting others enough by not trying to change them. Knowing what it is like to be different sometimes, I know that other people are unique just as I am. Learning to accept people for who they are has often been a flaw of mine, but my mom has always taught me to try and understand where people are coming from. Other lessons my mom has taught me are things such as knowing right from wrong, taking care of my responsibilities, and doing things for myself. My mom has taught me so many things, it is hard to even describe why she does all of this for me. She does it simply because she is my mom and she loves me. Hopefully these lessons will stay with me for the rest of my life and I will be able to teach my own daughter these lessons.

Having learned these lessons from my mother, I plan to share all I can remember with my own daughter. I want my daughter to know that she can be whoever she wants. I want her to be confident and modest. I want her to be able to accomplish anything she sets her mind to. I plan to show my daughter that if you work for something, you can achieve it. I also hope to leave with my daughter values such as honesty, respect for others, and friendship. I wish that I will be able to raise my own daughter as good as my mom raised me. Hopefully I will be a great role model to my daughter as my mom is to me.

That's it.

A bit of it is hard to follow, but I'm guessing the assignment was to choose a role model and why I thought they were a role model? Upon reading this just now, I seriously have no recollection of writing this. Apparently I wrote about her often in high school as I thought this was a completely different assignment. I know I did a speech on her in speech class too, but this wasn't it. Funny how she ended up with it! I'm pretty sure when I wrote about her in high school, I would've been too embarrassed to give this to her, so I'm sure she probably found it or something. What's even weirder, is that the teacher I had wrote some really amazing things and I still have no recollection of this! She wrote "Your mother has done a fine job - so will you. You have come mile in your RHS (my high school) career - I really admire your honesty, your courage, your strength." She wrote some other nice comments too. Such beautiful comments, and I never even bothered to notice them before. How different I was at 17 than I am at 29. Now something like this is one of the most flattering comments I could receive.

Anyway, it's obviously not my finest piece of work, but you get the gist of how I felt about my mom even as a bratty teenager over ten years ago. She's probably the best person I've ever known and is responsible for (along with my father of course) any and all good in me today. I really have learned so much from her. I will tell you, ANYONE who knows me, knows that my first priority in life above all else is my family.

Happy Mother's Day Mom! I love you!

Happy Mother's Day to all of us Mother's! Remember we are our children's role models and its so important for us to show our children the very best in life. My mother certainly did and this is just another reminder of my job with Rosemary.

I'm glad I finally read this. I've been putting it off because with my Mothers Cancer I already cry all the time and figured this was just going to bring on more tears. While I may have shed a couple, I'm really glad I waited to read this just now. This was so very fitting for Mothers Day.

May all of us be even close to the woman and mother my Mom is.