Mommy and MeA funny thing has happened, as I've gotten older, married, and started a family of my own. I've become more and more like my mother. I find myself using the same gestures, speaking the same phrases, and at times, my voice startles me when it sounds just like hers. In addition, I've also noticed that as the years press on, my mother is becoming more and more like her mother. Sometimes, I have to stop my mother mid-sentence just to let her know that that facial expression she just made is Grandma. It's a phenomenon that makes me smile, the way these little details get passed down through the generations. We are all very different women, but as we've lived, loved, and learned together, we've taken the very best of our mothers and applied it to ourselves.
This makes me wonder if, one day, my little Grace will feel the same way. Will I be the type of woman, the kind of mother, she wants to be? Will she be proud of me, in the way that I've been so proud of the women who have been by my side all of my life? It is my hope that she will. It is my goal to surround her with love and support, and to be a strong foundation for her when things fall apart, just as my mom has been for me. The women in my life, on all sides (and I do have many sides) of my family, have taught me, whether on purpose or through examples, how to give unconditional love, to stand firm in my beliefs, to encourage and lift up those who need it, to really laugh until the tears fall, to love with all you have, and to strive for unwavering faith. Gracie is blessed to also have these women in her life.
Sometimes, as I pass by a mirror, I take a quick glance at myself. There, if only for a moment, I see my mother. This makes me happy. My mother is the funniest and most beautiful person I know. To me, she is an example of someone who loves life and really lives life. I want to be as much like her as I can, and then watch it trickle down...
