In Honor and Memory of the Best Mom in the World

I'm updating this article, originally published in 2012. My Mom left this world for her eternal home in 2014. She will always be loved and missed! Thanks for everything, Mom!

Everyone has a Mom but all Moms are not equal. Some moms are just okay, some are great, some are less than average, and some are head and shoulders above the rest. That's the category into which my Mom fits. I was blessed to be born into a large family with a stay-at-home Mom. Mom's kids were her life and her life's calling. Raising eight kids is a challenge. Raising eight kids well is an art.

One of Mom's favorite sayings about her children is, "I did not raise eight peas in a pod." That's so true. Although many of us share some traits, we are all different. Among our group are college graduates, teachers, entrepeneurs, government workers, blue collar workers, white collar workers, moms, and dads. Most of us fit into more than one of those categories. Only one of us is currently retired and none of us has spent any significant period of adult life unemployed.

Mom believed in hard work and in doing your best, whether in school or at home. Mom taught us all well with help from Dad sometimes. My parents were married but Dad was in the Army and was gone overseas from time to time. Having raised three kids as a single parent for many years, I can't imagine raising such a big family with my spouse so far away. Mom didn't drive so we walked or rode bikes to get to most places we needed to go including church and school.

Mom was there for all of the times in my life that were important. She didn't hover like many of today's helicopter parents but was just there. Although I live across the country from my Mom now, I still feel close to her. We don't talk all of the time but each time, it's like we just pick up where we left off. Mom's memory isn't so good now so I'm glad that we talked a lot in years gone by. I can't bear to think about a time in the future when Mom won't be around.

My siblings and I are all grown now. Many of us have kids of our own and two of us have grandchildren. I'm older now than my Mom was when I got married and moved away. I've lived more of my life away from my Mom than with her. But the lessons that I learned from Mom will last for the rest of my life. Thanks, Mom!