Maybe I have a terrible memory, but I don’t really remember my mother sitting me down and teaching me how to do my makeup. Or really my hair–then again who REALLY could have taught me how to do that. Or really how to dress. (I do remember her wondering if I was ever going to wear a dress in high school because I just wore jeans and a band t-shirt on a daily basis. My attempt at living my dream as a rock star.)
The older I became, the more I realized my relationship with my mother was so different than most girls my age. We didn’t get along, which is really nothing new being a teenager, I mean, right?
I got mad because our relationship was so different. Granted you have to understand our family history to get why things are the way they are. I wish they weren’t like that sometimes, but that’s how life goes.
I decided to change things. I was so much more confident in myself. I realized it wasn’t my mom standing in my way–it was me. And things began to change.
I’ve noticed I look more like her. And I’ll admit I can act a lot like her.
I was looking in my floor-length mirror as I was getting ready for work one day and realized something.
Even though, according to my memory, my mom didn’t sit down and teach me how to dress, do my makeup or my hair–she taught me by the way she dressed, how she did her hair and carried herself.
As humans, we learn by example and I believe my mother is one of the best examples I could ever have.
She is one of the most loving people in the world. She is one of the most professional people in the world. She can talk to strangers and become friends with them–she’s that friendly. She cooks amazingly. I mean, she can take whatever ingredients we have in the kitchen and make something delicious. She knows how to host an awesome get together–grad parties, birthdays, you name it. She taught me so many more valuable things, I don’t want to take this entire blog to get into them.
How my mom has led her life is the only example I’ve ever needed. She has shown me how to love those who do wrong to you. She is a powerful woman who never told me my dreams wouldn’t come true. She sacrificed so much for my brother and I to be successful. I literally owe every single job and all the careers I will end up having to her because she paid my entire way through college. She showed me what a marriage looks like, still does, as they’re celebrating their 27th wedding anniversary this weekend. She showed me what it’s like to be a daughter, even when you don’t necessarily get along with your mother, or family 24/7. And she has shown me how to accept who I am and own my greatness, because I’ve seen her do this my whole life, even if I didn’t acknowledge it until more recently.
My mother will always be my hero. She has done way more than I think I can possibly do in my lifetime. She is a warrior and because of that, I know how to fight for what I want. I am beyond blessed by her love and insight into life’s most difficult situations.
And that’s how I learned everything I ever needed to know.
Lauren Brooks 