i was really undecisive on whether or not i wanted to post this in my best of series. it is one of my favorite blogs and it holds special meaning to me so i kind of didn't want to plaster it on the www. after going back and forth i decided to just go ahead and do it. it's kind of long but i hope you sit back and enjoy it.
yesterday on oprah, she was highlighting a few stories of moms around the world. the stories of these powerful women brought me to tears. i am amazed by the strength of these women. she told one story of a single mom of ten who travels up and down a hill in her village transporting items for people… getting paid only a few cents for the incredibly hard labor. she returns in the evening and cooks and cares for her ten children. i felt ashamed, i am so lucky. when i begin to complain about cooking after a long day, i will think of this woman. i love being a mom, it has been my proudest accomplishment. i hope that i too can live up to the many strong women in my family. on that note, i will share this blog from September 5th, 2006. it is entitled: happy birthday mom!
we had a great weekend, but i shall write about that later. today is my mom's birthday and this post is for her...
my mom is an amazing woman. this is my tribute.
when my mom was born, my grandma had difficulties with the delivery and the doctor ended up having to use forceps to get her out. the doctor ended up causing damage to my mom's brain resulting in what's called cerebral palsy. cerebral palsy mostly affects one's coordination. sometimes it can be so severe it can cause someone to be unable to walk. as my mom grew, many doctors told my grandma that my mom would probably be unable to learn to do many things on her own and would probably be confined to a wheelchair. despite what the doctors predicted, though it took longer than most, she learned to walk on her own.
when i talk to her about her childhood, she has many fond memories but unfortunately she has just as many if not more sad memories. the children her age were awful to her and made fun of her because she couldn't run as fast as they could or do some of the things that they could do. she couldn't keep her balance and would fall and get hurt all the time. even her many siblings didn't want to play with her in fear that they would get in trouble for hurting her. many of the stories my mom tells me brings tears to my eyes. the older she got the fewer friends she had, by the time she was in high school she had about two or three very close friends. one who she remains in contact with to this day. she has lots of fun memories with these girls.
she graduated high school and went on to college, which is where she met my dad. (who also is an amazing man who i'll have to write about at a later time.) my dad remembers when he first saw my mom and tells me how cute he thought she was, in fact, after 30 years of marriage he still tells her how pretty he thinks she is. at the time that she met my dad, my mom was living in california. they dated on and off for a while and then my mom moved to colorado with her family. (my father was not around at this time, i think he was on vacation or something...) my father came back to see my mom to find that she had moved. luckily, my mom's dad had come back to california to check on their house before renting it and ran into my dad who was looking for my mom. a few hours or even minutes later, my grandpa would've been gone from the house and my dad would've lost my mom forever! my dad got my mom's number/address in colorado from my grandpa and they began dating again. one weekend my mom went to visit my dad in california for a few days and they decided to elope! they got married in california but then my mom had to return to colorado for work monday morning. (she had gotten a great job in colorado working for the government.) she returned home alone to her family, married and didn't tell her own mom what she had done! my dad had to finish up some things in california and moved to colorado a few weeks later! somewhere between my dad living in california and moving to colorado my mom finally told her parents... i believe they were not very happy with her... hahaha!
about a year after my parents were married they had my sister, gracie. my mom was so happy to have given birth to a perfectly healthy baby. the doctors had told my mom that she probably wouldn't be able to push the baby out and a c-section would need to be performed. my mom proved them wrong again! in fact when she had me, she delivered me with out any anesthetic. having her first child was very scary for her, she tells me how she was scared she was going to hurt her or do something wrong. she overcame that and learned how to take great care of her children. when she had me she was no longer afraid and knew just what to do.
as i said earlier, my mom had a great job working for the u.s. government. she worked there during the day while my dad took care of us. in the evening, she would return and my dad would head off to work a late nightshift. they didn't get to see each other much. my mom got a great job offer in arizona working for the grand canyon national park service so we packed up and moved when i was about three years old. my mom worked very hard to support our family as my dad decided to return to college to finish his degree. my dad lived in flagstaff during the week while my mom and us kids stayed at the canyon. she was basically a single mother raising two kids all by herself, all the while being the sole provider for our family and supporting my dad through school. she was such a hard worker. we had many rough times, lots of ups and downs, but i had a great mom to get us through them!
when my dad finally graduated college, he was almost immediately offered a job in phoenix. my dad moved to mesa and we stayed until my mom found a job out here. after about a year, she found something she liked and we all moved to mesa to finally be together as a family.
my mom was born and raised in the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints and although my dad's family was catholic he wasn't very involved in religion. my mom insisted that us children be raised in the lds church. she stood strong as she tried to teach us about the church. it was very hard doing it alone although my dad supported her intentions and encouraged us to attend church. she even encouraged my dad to take the missionary discussions which eventually led to my dad being baptized many years later. i am so grateful for her perserverance. i wouldn't be where i am today with out her.
yesterday on oprah, she was highlighting a few stories of moms around the world. the stories of these powerful women brought me to tears. i am amazed by the strength of these women. she told one story of a single mom of ten who travels up and down a hill in her village transporting items for people… getting paid only a few cents for the incredibly hard labor. she returns in the evening and cooks and cares for her ten children. i felt ashamed, i am so lucky. when i begin to complain about cooking after a long day, i will think of this woman. i love being a mom, it has been my proudest accomplishment. i hope that i too can live up to the many strong women in my family. on that note, i will share this blog from September 5th, 2006. it is entitled: happy birthday mom!
we had a great weekend, but i shall write about that later. today is my mom's birthday and this post is for her...
my mom is an amazing woman. this is my tribute.
when my mom was born, my grandma had difficulties with the delivery and the doctor ended up having to use forceps to get her out. the doctor ended up causing damage to my mom's brain resulting in what's called cerebral palsy. cerebral palsy mostly affects one's coordination. sometimes it can be so severe it can cause someone to be unable to walk. as my mom grew, many doctors told my grandma that my mom would probably be unable to learn to do many things on her own and would probably be confined to a wheelchair. despite what the doctors predicted, though it took longer than most, she learned to walk on her own.
when i talk to her about her childhood, she has many fond memories but unfortunately she has just as many if not more sad memories. the children her age were awful to her and made fun of her because she couldn't run as fast as they could or do some of the things that they could do. she couldn't keep her balance and would fall and get hurt all the time. even her many siblings didn't want to play with her in fear that they would get in trouble for hurting her. many of the stories my mom tells me brings tears to my eyes. the older she got the fewer friends she had, by the time she was in high school she had about two or three very close friends. one who she remains in contact with to this day. she has lots of fun memories with these girls.
she graduated high school and went on to college, which is where she met my dad. (who also is an amazing man who i'll have to write about at a later time.) my dad remembers when he first saw my mom and tells me how cute he thought she was, in fact, after 30 years of marriage he still tells her how pretty he thinks she is. at the time that she met my dad, my mom was living in california. they dated on and off for a while and then my mom moved to colorado with her family. (my father was not around at this time, i think he was on vacation or something...) my father came back to see my mom to find that she had moved. luckily, my mom's dad had come back to california to check on their house before renting it and ran into my dad who was looking for my mom. a few hours or even minutes later, my grandpa would've been gone from the house and my dad would've lost my mom forever! my dad got my mom's number/address in colorado from my grandpa and they began dating again. one weekend my mom went to visit my dad in california for a few days and they decided to elope! they got married in california but then my mom had to return to colorado for work monday morning. (she had gotten a great job in colorado working for the government.) she returned home alone to her family, married and didn't tell her own mom what she had done! my dad had to finish up some things in california and moved to colorado a few weeks later! somewhere between my dad living in california and moving to colorado my mom finally told her parents... i believe they were not very happy with her... hahaha!
about a year after my parents were married they had my sister, gracie. my mom was so happy to have given birth to a perfectly healthy baby. the doctors had told my mom that she probably wouldn't be able to push the baby out and a c-section would need to be performed. my mom proved them wrong again! in fact when she had me, she delivered me with out any anesthetic. having her first child was very scary for her, she tells me how she was scared she was going to hurt her or do something wrong. she overcame that and learned how to take great care of her children. when she had me she was no longer afraid and knew just what to do.
as i said earlier, my mom had a great job working for the u.s. government. she worked there during the day while my dad took care of us. in the evening, she would return and my dad would head off to work a late nightshift. they didn't get to see each other much. my mom got a great job offer in arizona working for the grand canyon national park service so we packed up and moved when i was about three years old. my mom worked very hard to support our family as my dad decided to return to college to finish his degree. my dad lived in flagstaff during the week while my mom and us kids stayed at the canyon. she was basically a single mother raising two kids all by herself, all the while being the sole provider for our family and supporting my dad through school. she was such a hard worker. we had many rough times, lots of ups and downs, but i had a great mom to get us through them!
when my dad finally graduated college, he was almost immediately offered a job in phoenix. my dad moved to mesa and we stayed until my mom found a job out here. after about a year, she found something she liked and we all moved to mesa to finally be together as a family.
my mom was born and raised in the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints and although my dad's family was catholic he wasn't very involved in religion. my mom insisted that us children be raised in the lds church. she stood strong as she tried to teach us about the church. it was very hard doing it alone although my dad supported her intentions and encouraged us to attend church. she even encouraged my dad to take the missionary discussions which eventually led to my dad being baptized many years later. i am so grateful for her perserverance. i wouldn't be where i am today with out her.
my sister and i graduated high school and went on to college. when i was in high school many of my friends would tell me how great my mom was. to this day, when i run into old friends they always ask me about my parents. my mom loved all my friends and still always asks about them. my mom has a great memory and remembers most of my old high school friends' names. if you ever see her out and about, go say hi to her, if you ever came over to my house, she's bound to remember you.
she is currently still working for the government, she has now been with them for over 30 years and will be able to retire next year. she is a proud grandma and would do anything for her grandchildren. she loves them so much and they love her so much too. in fact, her first grandson was born two years ago on her birthday... according to her the best birthday gift yet!
my mother has overcome so many trials in her life. she has proved many people and doctors wrong. she has raised a great family and has a successful marriage and career. although, some may think that her condition makes her weak, she is the strongest woman i know.
happy birthday mom, i love you!
1 comment:
on your about me section....who is Bruce and why do you like him so much?
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