Thank You Mom: You're the Best!

When I was in elementary and junior high school, my mother and I seemed to be on the same wavelength, or at least close, but as I became a "mature" teenager, my mother and I rarely communicated. Of course, we continued to speak to each other, but neither of us were really hearing what the other had to say. At least, that was true in my case. I'm sure my mother was the same loving, concerned mom she had always been, it was just that I had become waaay smarter than her. I no longer wanted or needed her advice about my personal life. As a result, I ran through those years as hard and fast as possible, trying to prove how grown up I had become.

In my mid-twenties, I was still smarter, but I had ran head-on into enough brick walls and dead-ends to at least, hear what Mom had to say. Still, I usually trumped her advice with my own and continued learning things the hard way. Soon I began having my own children and eventually Mom began making a little more sense. We still had the generation gap dividing us, but the common bonds of motherhood closed much of the distance.

In my thirties, I began appreciating the challenges Mom had faced raising three children. I better understood some of the circumstances I had previously blamed on her. The heartache of returning home, divorced with three young children, to your parent's home in rural southern Oklahoma during the early 60's was quite disparaging, I'm sure. She did the best she could, but as a child, I often wondered why we didn't have much of a Christmas or didn't have new clothes like the other school kids. If it hadn't been for hand-me-downs from cousins and neighbors, we might have started the first nudist colony in town!

By the time I reached my forties and began having teenagers of my own, I suddenly found myself saying the same things I recalled hearing my mother say to me. Talk about déjà vu! I realized I had suddenly BECOME my mother. But wait, this could not be! I was much smarter, had more education, earned more money, and was a "modern" woman. Unfortunately, modern women get divorced, as well. As I struggled through this very difficult time, I reached out to my mother for advice. Thankfully, she was still alive and willing to share her wisdom and experience.

The very same Mom whose advice I had been rejecting, or at least, discounting, for the last twenty-five years, began to make sense. For the first time, I truly began understanding the power of first-hand experience. What a revelation to learn my mom had a doctorate in the school of life. Without her, I probably would have lost my sanity during the last eight years. Her steadfast loving concern has been a guiding light. The times her unfaltering faith has uplifted me from despair are too numerous to count.

Now that my life has once again become manageable, Mom and I are best friends. We have bridged the gap completely. We speak on the phone several times a day and I would not consider a day complete without hearing her voice. We laugh, we pray, we enjoy life to the fullest together. We even wrote a book together. I do not hesitate one moment to ask her advice on any topic. We talk "girl talk" about my boyfriends, share our joys and heartaches, and I am so grateful that she is still in my life. Thank you, Mom. You're the best!