Hammer and Halo - Part Three
My hope has been over the the last few posts to pour out my heart in ode to the generations that have poured into me. So, here goes with the final entry (for now), for my Hammer and Halo short series.
She is the Warrior Queen - she is my Mom. If Thor’s hammer could be carried by a mortal it would be her, all while being adorned with her halo. She is Wonder Woman in spades….Thor’s side kick shall we say?
She’s a cheerleader for me and my siblings, always finding a positive spin on what we are doing and never allowed us to doubt ourselves. Have I disappointed her, oh you bet and she has me, so we can probably call it even in that department!
I am her first born, so we both learned things from each other. She pushed me to dream and made me feel invincible…..the world was definitely my oyster according to her! She pushed me to try things, baton lessons, piano lessons and she even took notes for me in the Spanish class at her school where she taught 5th grade so I could try learning another language.
This Warrior Queen is the forever optimist. Did she wear me out with her rosy colored glasses outlook? Yes, but on this side of Motherhood I see that perspective was a necessity, was what kept her going during those hands on mothering days. And those days were tough.
There were six of us, 4 kids 2 adults in a teeny tiny 2 bed, 1 bath house in those early years. My Dad in college, my mom an elementary school teacher. I still remember all the canning that went on in that tiny kitchen in the summers. - how else would we have eaten in the winter? Laundry of six hanging out on the clothesline… nothing was easy. My Dad in the hospital, a scary time… we were all so young but remember, she’s the Warrior Queen and she made it work…. all of it, all of the time and I don’t remember her complaining…EVER.
I watched my Wonder Woman day in and day out until I left home and headed to college. The juggling, multi-tasking, busy, stressfulness of a 2 career coupled home with 4 kids to raise. Graduate school in the middle of it all… and she did it well. Oh, I can’t forget to mention… in case all that didn’t keep my parents busy enough…. their church life was not shabby either! Everything from class teachers, to youth leaders, Vacation Bible School president, choir members, etc, etc, etc,……they were involved.
How has she done it? Outside of a great partner in my Dad, her super power is simply her walk with God. She breathes it… she thinks it, she exudes peacefulness and joyfulness that is simply her walking with God.
There’s nothing that happens in any of our lives that she can’t see God at work, or make an analogy related to God in our lives as we tell her our stories. I know if I have a prayer request… I have to get to Mom. Because, that is her super power and I need it pouring into me every chance I can get!
So for all my memories of you Mom, going the extra mile, all those ahead of your time “mom inventions” (we should have patented a couple of them!), your throwing your baton so high in the air I could hardly see it and the amazing way you caught it every time (a former majorette… and therefore my baton lessons I mentioned earlier ….)and all the cartwheels turned in the yard… (I still can’t do…) I just want to say thanks and you’re awesome and I don’t think you’re a crazy plant lady….yet! Whatever you think you might have done wrong or missed the mark… I think it came out in the wash! I like how you helped me turn out!
So here’s to my Mom, our kids Nana, our Dad’s “Gig”…… Happy Super Mother’s Day,
Love, Rhonda