Hello everyone, and welcome to this week’s edition of Friendship Friday, the weekly series where I share with all of you information about a special person in my life. My first Friendship Friday was about my Sister-in-Christ Brenda, the next one was about my best friend, my wife Cindy, and last week’s post was about my wonderful daughter Sophie. Today I’ve got another woman in my life that I want to write about — my Mom.
My Mom Ellen is a great woman. She is the oldest child of three that my Grandma and Grandpa had, and she has had to be strong many times over the course of her life. She is a miracle — she survived a really scary childhood illness that forced her to have to learn how to talk and walk again; she survived a very scary condition after my Grandma passed away a few years back — in fact, she wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the heroic efforts of my Dad, but that’s a story for another day. She has battled so many things over the course of her life (including me sometimes) — but the one thing that she has never done is backed down from what she believed was right.
My Mom has had to do a lot of things over the years, including care for her parents. Grandma and Grandpa are both gone now, enjoying their time in Heaven with Jesus, but before they left, they had Mom there, looking after them as best she could, first in Florida, and then, when Grandma passed away, in Virginia with my Grandpa moving into Mom and Dad’s home.
When I look at my Mom, I see the best of both of my Grandparents in her. I see the stubbornness that my Grandma had at times, along with a little dose of “If you want something, go get it yourself!” The funny thing was that, when my Grandma was younger, if she came to our house to visit, then she took over the kitchen. When they got older, and we would go to her house to visit, she would tell us we knew where it was, to help ourselves. We picture her getting to Heaven and telling Jesus if he wanted anything He knew where it was, go help Himself! My Mom, thankfully, has developed a little bit of that herself.
In addition to the qualities of my Grandma that I see in Mom, I also see some of my Grandpa in her. Those qualities are more about her carefree attitude with things. Mom can get upset about things, that much is certain, but her laughter, which is often evident, reminds me of Grandpa.
Now that my Grandparents have moved on to Heaven, I’ve seen a welcome change come over my Mom. She is more carefree — she and Dad are taking more small trips then they used to, they are enjoying their lives as husband and wife together perhaps a bit more. It’s not like they didn’t enjoy themselves before, and that they wished that Grandpa didn’t live there — that’s not it at all. It’s just that they are able to do things that they just weren’t able to do before. It’s hard to explain, and I’m doing a lousy job I’m sure, but I’m glad that they have been able to do these things, and I look forward to hearing about their journeys on this stage of their lives for many years to come.
Not a day goes by that I don’t thank God for Mom. I may not tell you every day, Mom, but I love you, and each day Sophie grows, I learn more about the kind of parents you and Dad were to Robin and I. I love you, Mom, and I hope you have enjoyed being the center of attention today.
Special thanks goes out to my friend Heidi from Heidi’s Head — it was from Heidi that I first learned about this special series that she does every week. If you want to read who she is writing about this week, just click on the image below! Thanks for stopping by, and for learning more about my Mom.
What a wonderful tribute to your mom, Mike! She sounds like a great person – no wonder she raised such a great son! Thanks for sharing her with us today!
Thanks, Heidi! She is special!