Proudest Moment as a Mom: How Do You Choose from All Those Cherished Moments?

Each of the 32 years of my daughter's life has delivered Mom's Proudest Moment. Some of those years gave me more than one proudest moment as a Mom, but those proud moments got cancelled out by some Good Child Gone Bad events during her adolescent years. I will never forget how proud I was that my daughter won Journalism awards in junior high school, but then I got a visit from the truant officer because she skipped school a few times. For crying out loud, my pride sank when I just wanted to kill her.

The truth is, when you are a Mom, you are still proud of all those cherished moments that no matter what your children do wrong, are still cherished moments. How do you choose the proudest moment as a Mom out of all those rewarding moments? Well, some of the moments you are proud of are things your children did to make you proud. It turns out that some of the proudest moments as a Mom are things YOU did as a Mom that were good things for your children.

Committing to the assertive discipline process, otherwise known as "tough love" is a hard decision for most parents to accept and most cannot follow through with discipline. Kids know that and take complete advantage of it. Some of my proudest moments as a Mom were when I actually followed through with a tough love disciplinary action and my daughter was better off for that. When she was a teenager, she wanted to move in with her best friend's family because life at home was just too tough. OK I said, but don't think you can just come back any time you want when you realize life isn't greener away from home. She moved out, and of course, I cried for days.

After four days, she called and wanted to know if we could be friends and have lunch. I said no, not as long as she felt life was better away from her home. Within a week, my daughter called repeatedly and I sensed that she wanted to come home but didn't know how to accomplish that and still have her pride. I went to the best friend's house and said: it is time for you to come home now. She said OK and moved back home. That was one of the proudest moments as a Mom. Sometimes, children need to learn lessons on their own no matter how hard it is for Mom to watch.

I do not think it is possible to select the proudest moment as a Mom, so I will list my proudest moments as a Mom for each year of my daughter's life. Maybe one day, she will read this and know how much I love her.

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 1: she walked on Easter Sunday at 9 months old

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 2: she grew beautiful curly blonde hair

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 3: she posed for a picture with her hands folded and a big smile on her face; what a happy baby

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 4: she was in her first Christmas play at day care

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 5: she started school and loved it

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 6: she read books all the time and loved them

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 7: she went on her first camping trip and had a blast

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 8: she got her first bowling trophy

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 9: she took gymnastics lessons

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 10: she took ballet lessons

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 11: she took piano lessons

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 12: she won Journalism awards at school

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 13: she graduated from Junior High

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 14: she was a High School newspaper reporter

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 15: she started babysitting to earn money

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 16: she got her driver's license and her first car

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 17: she passed all her classes in High School (whew)

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 18: she graduated from High School and joined the Air Force

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 19: she got accepted into the USAF Academy

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 20: she got her first apartment

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 21: she traveled all around Europe for a month

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 22: she got married and continued in college

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 23: she worked her way through college

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 24: she graduated with a Bachelor's Degree

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 25: she got her first accounting job

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 26: she decided to attend Auburn to get a Master's Degree

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 27: she graduated with a Master's in Accounting

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 28: she passed the CPA exam

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 29: she passed the CIA exam

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 30: she was named to the Board of Riverfest

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 31: she volunteered as a mentor for Junior Achievement

Proudest Moment as a Mom Year 32: she bought a 6-acre property and drove a tractor

I could not have dreamed of a more wonderful daughter that makes me the proudest Mom in the world. I love you, sweetie!