Mom Always Liked You Best

When one of my siblings recently said to me that they thought I was mom’s favorite, my first thought was who has time to have a favorite when you have five kids to raise?? But, when I thought about it, I wondered if it wasn’t that I was her favorite, but that she and I had many things in common.

This was true from the moment I was born. Mom and I were both born in the month of October, in fact I was just a couple of hours from being born on her birthday. More than once mom said that she wished we had the same birthday. but alas, it was not to be. Even so, we still got to celebrate a lot of birthdays together. Good thing we liked the same kind of birthday cake!

Both being born in October meant that mom and I shared an astrological sign – Libra. Mom certainly embodied the characteristics of Libra with her calm, gentle temperament and doing her best to have a harmonious home, which with five kids that was a tall order. I’m a work in progress as far as my Libra temperament goes but I had a good role model in mom.

Seeing Red

Perhaps the most obvious thing mom and I had in common is that in our family of seven, we were two brunettes in a sea of redheads. As the throwback pictures below show, we had a lot of red hair going on in our family thanks to our Irish heritage. You’ll have to trust me that our father was also a redhead given that there isn’t that much hair to see…. And you may wonder why I used old pictures – suffice to say that the red leaves are now changing to silver 🙂

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Let’s Try Something New

Throughout her life mom was always open to new things. Whether it was singing karaoke, participating in a drama production, trying the latest vegetarian dish that I cooked up or doing yoga with me when she would come to visit, she jumped right in with both feet. I guess you could say I followed in her footsteps in the “try new things” department when I fell in love and married an RCMP officer.

Over the course of his 30 plus year career we lived in nine different communities which provided our family with many new experiences. One posting that provided some interesting times was on a small island accessible only by ferry, where there was a resident whose main mode of travel was a unicycle and the annual summer community event was an outhouse race. This particular posting also allowed me to develop my skills in keeping three woodstoves going to heat our house. By the time we left, I was quite proficient at building fires!

Story Time

Later in life mom took up story writing. She wrote about her younger years and family events, and was so proud when one of her stories was published in the local newspaper. I think writing gave her a sense of purpose and was a wonderful creative outlet for someone who had spent the majority of her life dealing with domestic issues and five rowdy kids. Finally she was able to embrace the calm and peace of a quiet household and writing became something she really enjoyed.

Writing is something I also enjoy but mine takes a slightly different format. For many years I’ve kept a journal. At last count I have 15 journals full of my musings and innermost thoughts. I find journaling helps me sort through things and helps with my Libra pursuit of calm and harmony.

Recently an interesting question has arisen for me – what should happen to my journals when I’m no longer here? I haven’t quite figured out the answer to that question, but I do know that publishing my writing as mom did, is definitely not an option….

Two Peas in a Pod

Many times I have been told that I have a strong physical resemblance to mom and recently I was told that my voice even sounded like hers. People often tell me that our personalities are very similar, which I take as a huge compliment.

Not long after mom passed away I found a quote that really resonated with me. It said the best way to honor someone who has passed away is to adopt their best qualities. While mom and I did have a lot in common, if I can adopt just some of mom’s kindness, caring attitude and zest for life into my life, I will be a much better person for it and I know…

Betty Would Love That!

We plan to publish a new post every Monday, so stayed tuned for our next one entitled “Little Sis Lets Loose.”