A TOUGH ACT TO FOLLOW--the woman who is my mother

(Written for Mother's Day Contest LHJ 2001)

Sometimes I look in the mirror. I look at my life, and I say to myself, “My God, I’ve become my mother”.
Oh, how I wish.
In a perfect world all mothers would be superwoman. Mine is.
She took me horseback riding; she built tree houses and dollhouses. She sewed summer wardrobes, winter formals and prom dresses. She baked billions of cookies, served on countless committees, Mom was a leader for bluebirds, campfire and 4-H. She drove carloads of giggling girls to camp, volleyball games and speech meets.
She did all these things for me. She wasn’t new to the job; I have three older sisters.
The first actual memory I have of Mom is when I was 5, she was 44. She was in a brown two-piece maternity dress, pregnant with my little brother.
She was 44, had a daughter in college, one in high school, a third grader, a 5 year old and a baby on the way. Imagine that!
My Mom was a teacher. She stopped teaching school when she had kids. From the day Helen was born until Roger went to college, for 38 years Mom was a full time mother. Oh, yes, and she rose before 5 each morning, milked a few cows, cleaned the milk house and had a big breakfast on the table by 6. The rest of her day was spent cooking, baking, cleaning, building, and caring for chickens, garden, house, cows and kids. Work, for Mom, is a challenge, a game. Mom loves to do dishes. Loves to do dishes? That’s just the way she is.
Mom was an environmentalist before they were radicals. She loves nature and creatures of every kind. Flies, snakes, spiders and mice are safe with Mom.
When Mom was 62 she had finally served on her last prom committee, baked her last batch of cookies for school.
Mom milked her last beloved Guernsey at the age of 69. Mom took her second paying job at the age of 70. She was a teachers aide for a few years, then she took a half a day job as a clerk at the city office, and she was there until she was 82.
Mom is young at 84.
Mom gives herself a manicure on Saturday afternoon, goes to church every Sunday, and plays penny-ante poker on Wednesdays. She is beautiful, strong and sensible.
Mom came of age during the Great Depression. She married a rancher. Times were never easy. She taught school to make a living. She never stopped teaching--her life has been my lesson.
Mom showed me how to find joy in work; how to love a man ‘because of’ and ‘in spite of’; she let me go and she let me come back. She taught self-sufficiency, thriftiness, generosity, humor, tolerance, compassion, morality, empathy, decency, honesty, integrity and fairness.
Mom has aged without getting old.
I want to pattern my life after hers.
I say to myself, “Good luck”.