Mother's Day

This has been an unusual Mother's Day for our family. The mother, Robyn, is in Wisconsin with our baby Moriah. So, we had no special celebration for the day. Robyn's special Mother's Day treat is four days of taking care of just one kid, as opposed to the usual four.

I've been "Mr. Mom" for the past few days. Actually, so many people from the church helped out with babysitting that Robyn's absence hasn't been the domestic disaster it could have been. The kids have been fed, basic hygiene has been maintained, the dishes are mostly clean, and the house has some semblance of order. There is a good chance we will survive until Robyn returns tomorrow night!

Since it is Mother's Day, and since my own mother makes up about half of the readership of my blog, I had better say some nice things about her in this space! As I reflect on my childhood, I see some ways in which my mom had a deep influence on me. For starters, she always expressed her confidence in me that I could accomplish whatever I set my mind to do. Though she was by no means like so many moms today pushing their kids to over-achievement insanity, she made it clear that I could, and should, set my sights high for the future. My mom herself is the kind of person who sets high goals and then works hard to meet them. She strives for excellence in whatever she pursues. To whatever extent these traits are true of me, it is largely due, I believe, to her influence.

Secondly, my mom taught me to question popular assumptions and common wisdom. For example, when I was in grade-school, it was her idea to get rid of our television set. At least among everybody we knew, this was a radical and unheard-of concept. But we did it, and can there be any doubt that missing out on hours of "Dallas" and "The A-Team" was an unqualified good thing? Years later, bumper stickers appeared admonishing us to "kill" our televisions. Heck, my mom killed our television before television-killing was cool. But the lesson I learned was, just because everybody else does or thinks something, doesn't necessarily make it good or right.

I'm sure there are many other ways that my mom influenced me for good. But these come to mind. Happy Mother's Day, Mom!