For me, being a mom is the greatest thing ever. There’s nothing like holding a newborn baby, especially when it’s yours. Everyone wants to look at it, hold it, and tell you how beautiful it is. All the things you pretended to do as a child, now you can do. Dress it up, feed it, change it, sing to it, and play with it.
You get to teach it all kinds of things as it grows and learns. It’s amazing what those little ones will learn just by watching people. I worked with children, doing skits, puppets, and clowns, and my girls learned to role play. They were required to do chores, and they learned good work ethics. They helped me raise a garden, can food, and do crafts. We worked as a family.
We somehow got through the adolescent years, but not without me embarrassing my children. I wanted to confront one of my oldest child’s teachers about a situation, but she begged me not to. So, I didn’t. One time my youngest and I were walking through Walmart when she said, “Mom, stop singing!” I don’t think I was even aware I was singing. When we drove through town, she ducked down in the back seat so no one would see her with her parents.
When my oldest was little, she lined up all her dolls and stuffed animals and had church with them. She taught them songs and told them Bible stories and other stories. When she was with other children, she was the director for their activities—some called it bossing them--and they listened to her. As a teenager, she became a drum-major and choir president and later director at her place of work.
My youngest was funny. She constantly had us laughing about something. As a teenager, she handled all our telemarketing calls. She was compassionate and kind. She cried when we visited Mexico and she saw children begging. She shared her treats with the child no one else would share with. When the class made a circle for an activity, she held the hand other students wouldn’t touch because it was dirty.
Today, my girls both work with children, teaching them, and counseling them. They are successful and have successful families. I can’t take credit for their successes—I’ll leave that to them and God. But they do make me proud.