My Mother and I are incredibly similar. We both wrinkle our noses in the same way when we laugh, we both have uncontrollable laughter once you get us going, we have the same shaped lips, we have the same hands, we have the same lanky legs, we both cry at silly things, we both are stubborn, we both get so involved in projects we forget to eat or do anything else, we both love the mountains and the outdoors, and we are both strong. We each grew up tom boys, with my Mom she played in the creek behind her house, and took trips to the mountains; while for me I tried to keep up with my brothers and race the other girls. I think it took both of us awhile to grow into our more feminine sides, although Mom swears I went through a prissy streak.
I'm not quite sure what she's talking about.
We are different in many ways as well. I got my Father's coloring: tanning skin and light hair, I have a nose we're not sure who it came from, and I have a streak of rebelliousness that is just pure me. That streak caused me years of apologizing to my mother for being thirteen. Thirteen is just never a good year. My Mother has a beautiful singing voice that is the closest to what heaven sounds like that I can imagine. It's one of my favorite sounds in the entire world. I just have an ok voice, I can carry a tune...mostly. But for all our differences, we always take comfort in our similarities.
My sophomore year of college I found these pictures of my Mother and decided to take some comparison shots. I had them framed and they still sit in my Mother's living room. My Aunt saw them one day and could not tell the difference between us.
It's rare for us to go more than a week without talking, but I still miss her. Now that I'm older and living on my own, I think of her more often. I'll be in the middle of a project and think, "How did Mom do this? How did Mom figure this out? Why can't I do this if Mom did it?" And I don't even have kids yet to ask those sorts of questions.
My Mom was a stay at home Mom, and it was a full-time job. My Father was equally hardworking so they both had full-time jobs and got a lot done. But being around Mom so much when I was little was a huge influence, and that influence affects me today. If my Father was busy, then my Mother would do the handy jobs, and vice versa. They were partners in every aspect of our lives. Speed Racer and I both work from home, and that has been a challenge in itself. But we also view it as a partnership, and I know that things are easier because we can do them together. It was the same for my parents. I know that my Mother would not have be the same person without my Father.
Even though I find as I get older that I am more and more like my Mother, I also worry that I won't be enough like her. What if I don't learn her patients? What if I don't show love through everything like she does? What if I can't make custom Halloween costumes? And although I know she is reading this right now and rolling her eyes, it's true...I worry about these things. I know that I will find my way, that I will do things differently than she did, but my Mother has been the best mother possible. I can only hope, that I become more like her each day.