As a parent, we cry many tears.If we’re lucky, most of those tears are the joyous kind; the kind that come when they take their first step or the day you leave them at the door to the kindergarten room.
As a parent, we often think it is a thankless job.If we’re like most other parents, we don’t get that “Thank you, Mom” or the “I love you” very often.It often makes us think that they don’t care; they don’t need us; they wouldn’t even notice if we dropped off the face of the earth.
That’s all par for the course of parenting.I’ve been a parent for almost twenty-six years and I’ve seen it all.I’ve cried the happy tears and far too often the not-so-happy tears.My kids have said cruel, thoughtless things that have made me cry.Most of the time, those tears have been shed in secrecy, away from the offending child, so they wouldn’t know they had made me cry.Lately they say thoughtless things and snap at me, making me feel that I want to run away and never come back.They don’t stop to think that the way they say things is as hurtful as the actual words.They never apologize, even when I know they’ve realized that they’ve hurt me.Part of that, I’m quite sure, is that they are a lot like me.They’ve inherited their mother’s stubbornness.However, one thing they’ve not learned is to apologize when they’ve hurt someone.I hope they’ll learn that soon.
Enter my youngest daughter, Susie. She is seventeen and loves photography.She is hoping to go to an art school on the east coast.Last year she realized that the free flickr.com account wasn’t enough for all her photos.She quietly mentioned that she wanted to upgrade to a professional account and said maybe she could ask for it for Christmas.I gave her my debit card and told her to go ahead and get it.I knew it was important to her and that it would make it easy for her to share her photos with people all over the country that she knows online.She was appreciative of that and let me know.
Last night I was going through her online gallery to find some photos of her that I wanted to share with a small group of online friends (I don’t post pictures of my kids online except in private, controlled groups of people I know well).She hasn’t allowed me to take her picture in at least two years so I have to rely on those others have taken of her and those that she has taken of herself.She currently has over 1400 pictures online.It took a while to go through them.That’s when she made me cry, the good tears, the ones that made me want to run and hug her and tell her how much I love her (but she was asleep so I had to wait).I came across a photo she took which might just always be my favorite photo by her.It was a photo of a note I had left for her on the table one morning when I had to run off to an early morning training class. I ran out and got some donuts, muffins, juice and milk for her and a friend that had spent the night.The note is inconsequential to me.What made me cry was the caption on the photo.It read: “Best Mom Ever”.
Sorry for the formatting difficulties. I’ve tried for an hour to get it right and it isn’t cooperated today. I’ll be back to see if I can fix it.
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Oh… that’s so cool!
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It was very cool. I saved the picture on the hard drive of both the desktop and the laptop, for when I need a reminder!
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That’s awesome Corina!
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Totally sweet!
And, you made me feel lucky. My kids are still at the age where they do show appreciation openly. I rarely make it more than two hours without “Dad, I love you.” or “Dad, I like you.”
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I’m with that dude on top of me. My kids are young enough where I get the “Your the best Mom ever”. I know that there will come a day when it’s not so freely given. You are an awesome Mom! It’s so good that they see it!
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That’s quite a tribute. You should be proud.
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I keep looking at this picture and having to keep from crying again.
She’s very sweet … WHEN SHE WANTS TO BE!
I’m very lucky indeed.
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W: On top of you? Dream on.
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I wish you had a gift such as this every day — you deserve it. *hugs*
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