Mom

I’m so grateful to my mom for her endless patience with me, her persistence in supporting me to follow my heart, her wisdom in raising me with a beautiful blend of freedom and structure, her honesty about how life can be and her conviction that we can all make a difference and do our part to keep our communities healthy and thriving.

She wasn’t about to buy me things I didn’t need, drive me to the homes of friends that didn’t treat me well, let me eat things that weren’t good for me, let me waste the earth’s precious resources by not saving water, recycling or composting, let me have bad manners or not write thank you notes.

As a kid, those are hard feelings to have when you want what you want and you don’t get to have it. But now I see the love in the faces of my friends as they tell their children no and hear the kindness in their voices as they set firm boundaries for them. As an adult, I appreciate her willingness to hold her ground and protect me from the things that I really didn’t need to watch, eat, or involve myself in. It taught me to keep an eye out for what is real, authentic, healthy, helpful and good.

Within the firmness of that structure, I had a ton of freedom to create and play and find myself. I always knew that I would be safe, cared for, listened to, supported and welcomed to be myself. No matter what happens, at any time in my life, she just always knows how to calm me down and give me a better perspective on whatever upset I may be having, and I have my share of upsets…mostly at myself for not being able to do a better job at something.

She would always say, “You do your best and that’s all you can do.” It’s such a simple statement, but I continue to learn from it over the years and it is finally sinking in, the freedom in that statement. Instead of being upset about why my best wasn’t or didn’t feel good enough, I can see that my best was my best and just let everything else go.

Happy Mother’s Day! Thank you for everything! I love you, Mom!