The best part of my life

After yesterday’s blog, reminding myself that I still need to get flowers to take to the cemetery for Mom, I remembered a conversation that I had with my mother when I was in my late teens.  My mom was a single mother raising three kids on her own (no child support), so she never had much money.  Definitely never enough money to buy anything special for herself.  Usually only enough to buy the things we needed, very rarely any extras.

In my late teens, like most teenagers, I thought I knew everything, had all of the answers (in reality, I didn’t even know what the questions were, much less the answers to those questions).  I told my mom her life would have been so much better had she not had us.  That she could have lived anywhere she wanted, could buy things for herself instead of spending every penny on us.

She just shook her head, looked at me, and said, “Don’t you know, you kids are the best part of my life?”

I didn’t really understand her comment at the time, but I’m very thankful that I am able to understand it now.  How blessed I was to have my mom for the years I had her.  Merry Christmas, Mom.