Mom

I am thankful for good parents that loved me when I was growing up. My mom is now 84. She is the one when we were going up that verbally expressed her love for me. Mom claims she doesn't like parties and such, but growing up she was always doing things to celebrate birthdays and holidays. Nothing big like a party with 50 acquaintances and a pony, but some kind of celebration within the family to make a big deal of the birthday or event. She tried to let you know she was interested in you. And if you showed interest in something she tried to get something to help you develop the interest. She made sure we went to church each week and participated.She worked outside the home, but she was big in helping to teach us about gardening and putting food up and such. She taught us to respect others and tried to keep her four sons from beating on each other too much. She was a forgiving person and taught us to be forgiving. When she loaned me a pocketknife that had belonged to her first husband who had died years before and I lost the knife, she expressed disappointment but did not berate me endlessly. Later I realized how that must have hurt to lose one of the few things she had from her earlier husband, but she forgave me. I was interested in different things than others in my family, but she encouraged most of those interests and even tolerated my love of sports to some extent. My mom loved us each and encouraged us to show our love for each other, which most of the time was not an easy task. Thanks mom, I love you and I am thankful I had a good mom who loves me.