My Mom

I can’t beleive it’s been TWELVE years already- where has the time gone.  Somedays is seems like just yesterday and other days it feels as if it’s been 100 years.

I will give you a little back history about my Mom.  Really all you need to know is that she was amazing but I’ll still tell you a little more.

I grew up in a house with a sister, 2 brothers, a grand father, and uncle, a mom, a dad, and one bathroom.  My mom and dad always supported and encouraged us in anything we wanted to do or attempt.  They were the type of parents that we laughed with and told them things I’m sure other kids didn’t talk to their parents about.  When friends were having issues it was my parents they turned to.  Now, there were also some drop down, drag’m out fights but in the end we’d all apologize, hug and say we were sorry.  When we were young our mom was a huge part of the activities that we were involved in from sewing skating costumes to being president of the skating club and that was just the girls.  She never missed watching us skate.  Both my brother played hockey as well and I don’t recall her missing any games growing up.  I almost forgot to mention- she also worked full time and was very active in our church.  Eventually becoming the CWL president and hosting their annual convention.

This woman had strength.  My one brother was in a bad car accident where he was in the hospital for nearly a year.  He had sever head injuries and for the month that he was in a comma my mom never left his side.  The doctors didn’t give us much hope but my mom kept saying if he was meant to go he would have died in the car (he was trapped in his car for about 8 hours before he was found).  Determined to help him she worked so hard with him on all his physical therapy and when he cried from the pain she was there and cried with him.  The day he -walked- yes walked out of the hospital my Mom was so proud.

When I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease it was my Mom that said we’d get through it and find a way to make me feel better.  Whenever I got sick it was mom that was there for me.  I don’t know where I would of been without her help and support.  There were other times growing up were mom stepped in and said we’ll cross that road when we get to it- let’s deal with this first.

When I was in elementary school my mom went back to school and received her high school diploma.  Then continued on to college.  She was one of 18, yes eighteen,  kids and she was the first of her siblings to go to and complete college, we were all so proud of her.  Just goes to show you what you can accomplish if you set your mind to it.

Once I was old enough to realized how lucky I was, I knew I wanted to be a become a person like my mom.  She always tried to see the positive and good in people, looked at a glass half full rather than half empty, and didn’t believe in talking bad about people.  I’m sure she had faults but for the life of me I don’t remember them.

As I’m sitting here staring into space I’m trying to hear her voice and some days it’s so difficult to hear it.  I strain so hard and when I can’t remember what she sounded like I sit an cry.  yes, I still cry for her.  My kids often ask about her and we do talk about her a lot in our house because I need to my children to know her.  I need them to know how much she loved them, how much she loved all of us.  I got my love for my family from my mom and it’s something I’m so very proud of.

Some people at her wake said that it would get easier with time, note- never say this to someone who’s just lost someone they love, I’m not sure it’s never gotten easier I just think I’ve learnt to accept it better.  I still think of her every day and miss her terribly but I know she’s with me and I can only hope she’s smiling down on us and proud of the way Andy and I are raising our family.

And because every post is better with pictures I’ll leave you with a couple of a wonderful, beautiful, smart, loving woman- my MOM!