My Mother, My Inspiration

My parents left to drive home yesterday, after a relaxing Christmas full of quick-witted humor, good food, and a beautiful Christmas Eve mass. What really struck me, though, was my mother's dedication. This isn't new - every time I spend time with her, I realize how much the family is her top priority. Some examples:

• Weeks before the trip, she asked my brother and me multiple times what recipes she should bring. She wanted to make us our favorites and to plan ahead in case she needed to bring specific ingredients or cooking utensils.
• She brought me my favorite local marinara sauce, without me asking :)
• She said she would change the sheets on my bed both before and after my parents stayed in it.
• She spent hours in the grocery store and my kitchen, preparing the perfect Christmas dinner by herself, while serving the rest of us cheese, crackers, and apples to temporarily curb our hunger.
• After each meal, she went about cleaning dishes and putting leftovers away, without so much as a chiding remark for us to help her. (I did help out! I didn't want her to be in the kitchen by herself while the rest of the family spent time together.)
• She did laundry while on vacation. If that doesn't show discipline and dedication, I don't know what does!

Needless to say, I love my mother's dedication. She really took on the role of wife and mother wholeheartedly 30 years ago and continues to this day. I only hope that I can put my whole self into something and dedicate the rest of my life to it.

I don't know that I'll ever fill her shoes!

So while I'm inspired by her dedication and have a few days left before returning to work, I thought I'd imitate her just a little. Yesterday, I cleaned the house, changed the sheets on my bed, did three loads of laundry, and picked up the mess that was my post-Christmas apartment :)

Last night I looked through one of my cookbooks, picked out four recipes, and wrote down the ingredients I needed. This morning after mass, I braved the grocery store! (If you don't know, I absolutely HATE grocery shopping, and I don't like cooking either.) I made chicken stir fry for my brother and me for lunch, then put pork chops and cornbread stuffing in the crock pot to be ready for dinner tonight! (AND got all the dishes done!) My hope is that leftovers will last me most of the week, then I'll tackle the other two recipes.

My mom has been my role model in so many ways. Spending time with her reminds me what I have to be thankful for AND what I have to aspire to! I'm newly inspired to put more effort into improving myself, even in the areas I try to brush aside. That's a good way to start the new year!