May 22, 2022
May 22, 2022
My mother was an everyday superhero. Everyday superheroes, by my own definition, are ordinary people who do extraordinary things on a regular basis in their quest to be of service to others. There are no costumes involved and very little public recognition awarded for their services so it’s not always as easy to identify them but most of us probably know somebody from our own lives that fits this description. My mother was certainly one of them.
Like all superheroes, my mother possessed certain attributes that helped define her as a superhero. The first was that she was absolutely selfless and always put the needs of others ahead of her own……always. The second was that she was compelled by her very nature to be of service to others. Whether it was her family, her church, her community or her country, my mother’s life has been filled with her efforts and attempts to be of service to others.
The final and perhaps most important attribute that she possessed was her energy. It was like my mother had a Ferrari engine under her hood and everyone else was driving old Volkswagens. Growing up I didn’t recognize this attribute as exceptional because I was used to it. Every day I would witness my mother flying around the house taking care of the housework and laundry , shopping and preparing meals, tending to all the animals and running the eight of us all over town to various medical appointments and athletic contests, while still finding time to participate in many volunteer activities. It wasn’t until I grew up and left home that I began to understand how truly special my mother was and how fortunate I was to be her son. As the cliche goes, the older I got, the more amazing and wonderful my mother became.
I loved my mother more than I could ever accurately describe with words so I won’t even attempt it here. I will be eternally grateful that I was able to share these feelings with her over the last few years and let her know just how much I loved and appreciated her. She has influenced me more than any other person I know, including my father, and she is hugely responsible for much of the success that I have achieved not only as a coach and educator, but as a husband and father as well. She has always had this incredible amount of faith in me, even when I was doing absolutely nothing to warrant it, and she never allowed me to give up on myself, no matter how badly I may have wanted to, and that’s a gift that I will never be able to repay.
I want to share one final story about my mother that I believe does a wonderful job of summarizing her life. My wife and I went to visit her on the Saturday before she died and we were both quite shaken by her appearance. She was completely exhausted and lethargic looking, with oxygen tubes in her nose to help her breathe, and it looked to me as if she had sprung a leak and was slowly fading away. I had never seen her like that before and I had to gain control of myself before I could even talk to her. I sat down on the couch beside her and propped her up a little, with my wife on the other side, and we tried to convince her that she needed to start eating or drinking a little and taking better care of herself so that we could keep her around a little longer. All she wanted to talk about, however, was her friend Paula who was confined to her apartment and needed a care package delivered to her. Even with her own death now imminent, all my mother could think about was the need to take care of someone else. That was my mom; every moment and day of her life.
I do not share my mother’s faith but I sincerely hope that she is somehow able to reap the rewards in the next realm that she has so rightfully earned in this one. I also have this very heartwarming vision in my head of her being blissfully reunited with my father and it helps me to cope better with both their losses. In any regards, my mother has been the greatest blessing ever bestowed upon my life and I will carry her in my heart forever.
Like all superheroes, my mother possessed certain attributes that helped define her as a superhero. The first was that she was absolutely selfless and always put the needs of others ahead of her own……always. The second was that she was compelled by her very nature to be of service to others. Whether it was her family, her church, her community or her country, my mother’s life has been filled with her efforts and attempts to be of service to others.
The final and perhaps most important attribute that she possessed was her energy. It was like my mother had a Ferrari engine under her hood and everyone else was driving old Volkswagens. Growing up I didn’t recognize this attribute as exceptional because I was used to it. Every day I would witness my mother flying around the house taking care of the housework and laundry , shopping and preparing meals, tending to all the animals and running the eight of us all over town to various medical appointments and athletic contests, while still finding time to participate in many volunteer activities. It wasn’t until I grew up and left home that I began to understand how truly special my mother was and how fortunate I was to be her son. As the cliche goes, the older I got, the more amazing and wonderful my mother became.
I loved my mother more than I could ever accurately describe with words so I won’t even attempt it here. I will be eternally grateful that I was able to share these feelings with her over the last few years and let her know just how much I loved and appreciated her. She has influenced me more than any other person I know, including my father, and she is hugely responsible for much of the success that I have achieved not only as a coach and educator, but as a husband and father as well. She has always had this incredible amount of faith in me, even when I was doing absolutely nothing to warrant it, and she never allowed me to give up on myself, no matter how badly I may have wanted to, and that’s a gift that I will never be able to repay.
I want to share one final story about my mother that I believe does a wonderful job of summarizing her life. My wife and I went to visit her on the Saturday before she died and we were both quite shaken by her appearance. She was completely exhausted and lethargic looking, with oxygen tubes in her nose to help her breathe, and it looked to me as if she had sprung a leak and was slowly fading away. I had never seen her like that before and I had to gain control of myself before I could even talk to her. I sat down on the couch beside her and propped her up a little, with my wife on the other side, and we tried to convince her that she needed to start eating or drinking a little and taking better care of herself so that we could keep her around a little longer. All she wanted to talk about, however, was her friend Paula who was confined to her apartment and needed a care package delivered to her. Even with her own death now imminent, all my mother could think about was the need to take care of someone else. That was my mom; every moment and day of her life.
I do not share my mother’s faith but I sincerely hope that she is somehow able to reap the rewards in the next realm that she has so rightfully earned in this one. I also have this very heartwarming vision in my head of her being blissfully reunited with my father and it helps me to cope better with both their losses. In any regards, my mother has been the greatest blessing ever bestowed upon my life and I will carry her in my heart forever.
