Unfolding a Blessing

     For whatever reason, I am not doing very well this year remembering birthdays and holidays where a certain person is supposed to be honored in time to mail a card and/or a gift.  So, today (even though it is almost over), I want to honor my mom.  She has been a HUGE blessing in my life and is a great example of a selfless woman.

     In 1968, my mom got pregnant with my brother, but she wasn't married.  My brother is 43 years old.  Our mom chose LIFE!  Of course, my brother and I fought likes cats and dogs while we grew up, but we are very good friends now; and I am thankful that he is my brother.  Our mom and biological father were married before Gerry was born and had another baby a year later...ME!

     Ten months after I entered the world, our father decided he couldn't handle being a dad or a husband, so he split.  Imagine being 23 years old and having two children under the age of 2 and your husband leaves you, not just leaves you but completely disappears off the face of the earth.  What did my mom do?  She chose to raise us on her own.  Her mother and father watched us some weekends, but she didn't have them raise us.  She did that.  She was alone with us for almost five more years until she got remarried to my stepdad, aka "dad."

     My mom was on welfare those first years, but she was made to pay it all back. When I was 10 (I think maybe 8, I can never remember), she went through the trouble of going to court to have our father declared legally dead.  Because of that, my brother and I received a trust fund from our grandfather, so were able to go to college.  We wouldn't have been able to otherwise.  My mom worked most of our school years as a seamstress out of our house.  I never learned how to sew because I always depended on her to do my sewing.  I still do.

     Throughout my entire life, she has supported me.  She raised me to respect people, to be honest, to be myself.  As most children do, I rebelled.  I walked away from a lot of the advice and teaching, but I came back.  Even during the difficult years, she was there.  Boy was she patient!

    Now that I have my own kids, I often hear myself saying something that sounds like what my mom would have said.  My kids will do or say something that reminds me of when I was a kid.  I am able to say that I have had a great life, and I am thankful that God gave me the mom that he did.  Happy Mother's Day, Mom!