I am thankful 5/9/10
For my mother.
When I was around 12 years old I got the shock of my life. My mother was finally done with nursing the youngest and was not pregnant again. And it turned out that she was a human like any other! Previously I had known her as the sometimes frazzled nurturer who would take care of me in the middle of the night when my bronchitis flared up, let me to tag along when she went to homeschool meetings, and allow us to occasionally eat ice cream for lunch when my dad was gone. Suddenly she could run and swim and hold complete conversations!
It took me quite a while to adjust to my new mother. I resented it when she would periodically check to see whether I was doing school work. I was confused when she had her own ideas about how cooking should be done. I did not understand how she could suddenly have energy for hiking, but still hated it when my brother and I argued about abstract concepts. My mother was human and that meant that she was unique.
My mother is a great example of doing what one believes to be best without concern for the opinions of others. And for that I am grateful, no matter how large the differences are between what we believe to be best at times!
