Discover Yourself - What are the things you love and admire most about your mother?

Years ago, I gathered up hundreds of journal prompts and put them on labels and into a cute little box for my "Discovery Journal Prompts". I would then, put my hand into the box and pull out a label at random and that would be the perfect prompt for me for that particular day. Great plans, right???

I haven't done a thing with them since...until now! Welcome to my Discovery Journal Prompt!  If you'd like a badge to put on your page, please go here

Here's today's...

What are the things you love and admire most about your mother?

Ahh, mothers.  The women we are most attached to and yet, can push our buttons like no other person on the planet.  Today, though, I only want to focus on the positive side of this relationship--sometimes it's just too easy to forget how much we love and admire our mother's as venting about them (or anyone else for that matter) is so "normal" in today's society.

My mother, Rose, IS someone I truly, truly love and admire.  She has overcome personal struggles and let-downs and even with advancing age, remains vital and an important part of our family and the community she lives in.

One of the reasons my mother remains so vital is that she is tenacious (I had to look up a synonym for stubborn because it isn't always bad--wink).  Once my mother sets her mind to something, there is virtually nothing that can disuade her.  This, I beleive, has served her very well.  A few years ago, she had knee replacement and she was home and mobile by herself within 2 weeks after the surgery.  She stayed in the hospital for one week, with me for one week and then refused to stay any longer--she just wanted to be home.  My brother's and I tried as hard as we could to keep her here--she lives 2.5 hours away from us--but she was determined.  And, she did great.  Totally floored us and had us eating our words that she wasn't ready to take care of herself.

One of the other things I admire so much about my mother is how involved she is in her community.  When I was growing up, both her and my father were very much involved with the Boy Scouts of Canada--they started when I was a toddler when both my brother's were involved and they both contributed to this organization for well over 35 years.  They had their own Boy Scouts "troops" that they ran each week as well, they trained regionally other leaders, my mother wrote some of the training material--she's published!  When they moved to the town they live in now--after their retirement in 1992--they brought life to a failing Boy Scouts area.  Both were still involved to some degree with the provincial groups until my father passed almost 8 years ago.  An interesting side note, at my father's funeral, it was very cheering for us children to see the honor Boy Scouts provided my father by the number of people who wore their Boy Scouts uniforms to his funeral.

My mother is no longer involved in Boy Scouts, but she is very involved in her community in other ways--she is on the board of the Healthy Community in her town, she is on the board of TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly), she is on the board of the Communities in Bloom.  She also writes at least 2 newsletters that I can think of--the sorority she belongs to and one other place that I can't think of what it is now.  All this and she volunteers at the local library 2 afternoons a week sorting and shelving their books, a one hour walk every morning with  her dog, coffee chats with the ladies in the morning, singing at the Personal Care Home Monday mornings, and...I think that may be it--but that is a whole LOT!  My mother is 78 years old--and I know that one of the reasons she remains so vital mentally and physically is because of how involved she is in so many areas.

Add to all of this (and I'm sure I've missed a lot--all of the above was just off the top of my head) I can tell you that my mother is very generous, she has a very warm heart, a ready smile on her face, and she's cute as a button!!

I'm sure you can sense my obvious pride in my mother and how much I truly love her.  She has been a stable force in my life and I am so very, very glad she is my mother.



We are not born at once, but by bits.  The body first, and the spirit later.  Our mothers have the pain of our physical birth; we ourselves suffer the longer pains of our spiritual growth.  - Mary Antin