Today is my mother’s birthday. She turns…er…older.1 Now I could have left this article until Mother’s Day. Heck, I could have left this article altogether since it’s so personal in nature. But I owe Mom a lot, the least of which is this article.2
Mom has been with me every step of the way during my life, even when she wasn’t exactly “with” me. While there are a great deal of things I’ve done with some help from others, Mom has been there to help me whenever I’ve needed it. Sure, there are certain things I’ve inherited from her. Genetics, while arbitrary in nature, bring in part of who we are from those who made up our parents…and so on. Here’s 5 of the things that I “got” from Mom:
1. My sense of humour.
To me. That’s the big gift I can pass on to everyone else out there. Partly because Mom isn’t too web-savvy, but mainly because I enjoy doing it. It’s a large part of who I am.
2. My teeth.
They give me character. Perhaps one day I will get them fixed (as Mom has), but for now they serve their function. Besides, my family needs to be fed and I can use these teeth for that so who am I to ask for new ones?
3. My singing voice.
I still think Mom should put together some kind of recording before she passes.3 I’m going to –- and her voice is better than mine. Yep, sometimes the student’s skills don’t overtake the master’s. This would be one of those cases.
4. My hatred of shovelling snow.
Pretty sure this is genetic.
5. My love of performing.
That said, I won’t dress up like a pig and sing “No Pork, No Pork” to the tune of “New York, New York.” And unlike Mom, I get paid to get up and do weird stuff in front of people.
I owe Mom a lot and could never repay her…and I’m not talking about money4 All I can do is do my best to be the best I can be at everything I can. That would make her proud. I know that I’m proud to have a crazy/amazing/weird/wonderful mother like her.
Pig costume and all.
1 I posted this pretty much word for word last year on my old site. It’s gone now, but I wanted to make sure this was reposted so it could be seen by the world ad infinitum. (Or as much of the world as comes to this site, I suppose.)
2 And yeah, I know I said I’d be back on Monday. And I still will. This was just too important for me to wait on.
3 One year later and still waiting, Mom.
4 Although based on my current income levels I couldn’t do that, either.
