It's Mother's Day and I would like to officially thank my mother. I have so much to thank her for.
She carried me around in her womb for nine months and then gave birth to me. Having given birth three times I know this is no easy task. I am sure it was even harder in 1972 working on your feet all day as a nurse. I like being in this world, as crazy as it is, so for this I thank her. She also supplied all my basic needs- food, shelter and water. Today I think we sometimes take those things for granted, but we shouldn't. I want her to know that now I know that those things don't just appear. She had to work for them. While I am very grateful for having a childhood that all my basic needs were met, I am most grateful for the things that my mother taught me. Here are just a few.
#1 When faced with a unpleasant task don't put it off. Put on your big panties and just get through it. My mother used to tell us she didn't understand the language "whine". We could whine all we wanted but it wasn't going to get us anywhere. Even if something hurt you just needed to grit your teeth and push through. This life lesson has really served me well, especially when dealing with children's vomit and explosive poo. One of my doctors loves to tell the story of the time my mom (who was his nurse) helped with a small procedure on me at his office. It was painful. Really, really painful. As she held my hand, stroking my head she said "suck it up Meghan, you can get through this". The doctor still to this day tells me how strange it was to see his nurse who was known for offering so much compassion to his patients just basically told me to get over it. What the doctor didn't know, is that if my mother had acted any differently not only would I be in the same amount of pain, but I would have been terrified that something was wrong because she was coddling me.
#2 If you say you are going to do something- do it. My mother is a woman of her word. Let's say you are fighting with your brother in the backseat of the car and your mom says if you don't stop she is going to stop the car and make you get out. Most kids know their mom is not serious. My mom was serious and Graham and I learned the hard way. Standing on the side of the road outside the car. Now, she let us back in pretty quickly, but when she says something, she is serious. But more importantly, you can rely on my mother to do what she says. No matter what. If you ask for her help and she says yes, not only will she help, but she will go far beyond what you expected her to do.
#3 Sitting around feeling sorry for yourself isn't going to make you feel better. My mother is a firm believer that the longer you sit and wallow in your pain the harder it is going to be recover. I think that is why she liked working in the recovery room at the surgery center. When you are coming out of anesthesia all you want to do is sleep and the nurses are yelling at you to wake up. They are making you sit up and drink something. They know you don't want to wake up, but you have to. My mom knows that you always feel better if you get up, take a shower and do something.
#4 Take pride in how you look. We butted heads on this life lesson. A Lot. Over the years my definition of taking pride was much different than my mothers. One thing we always agreed on is a you should pull an outfit together with a statement piece, we just had differing opinions on what the statement should be. She was really not fond of my black Depeche Mode, Smiths, and INXS t-shirts and she just shook her head with my thick wool socks and Birkenstocks. My mother would never ever in a million years leave the house without lipstick. I don't quite live up to those standards, but I do think that it is ridiculous to go to out of the house in your pajamas. I mean really people, it takes less than a minute to throw on some pants and a t-shirt. I am not typically a judgmental person, but if I see you in public in your pajamas all I can think about is the fact that you haven't changed your underwear and I think that is gross. I hate pajama day at school and I make my kids wear clean pajamas that they have changed into when the dreaded day occurs.
#5 Life is better when you are not afraid to step outside your comfort zone and not take yourself so seriously. My mom has had so many friends throughout the years. She has surrounded herself with friends from all different walks of life with different backgrounds, interests and lifestyles. She is not afraid to try something new and out of character. I remember my mom going to see the Rocky Horror in the 80's and a drag show in Key West. She took me to see Madonna and U2 in the '80's. She shocked us all when recently she got not one, but two tattoos.
These are just a few life lessons that I learned from my mother. The most important one is that I learned she is always there for me, no matter what. Thanks Mom.
