Today is my Mom's birthday. She is a wonderful person, loved by all, easily has more Facebook friends than me, as proof. She was a teacher in our youth and eventually became a counselor as I got into high school. She is the reason the four of us siblings graduated top 5% from high school and all got college degrees. I know, degrees don't make people better, but they do help, Naysayers.
Growing up, she always encouraged us to think for ourselves and be creative in whatever way came naturally. This might be her only thing she might want to take back, as I started questioning religion and now am comfortable saying I am atheist. This now hurts my mom's feelings, which is a little confusing because she is the one who taught us to question everything. She would prefer I believe in something, I say I believe in gravity. I have faith the sun will be there in the morning.
I am the only one that got out of my Mom's orbit but not because I wanted, it just happens that in order to work in a high tech world, you have to live where the jobs are. We live three hours away, and they do come visit every three-four weeks. My two brothers and sister live within half a football field from Mom. My brother, working out of Laredo, commutes daily, roughly three hours on road, but he bought the house next to our folks. My sister, now an assistant principal, bought the lot behind my folk's house and her and her hubby built a beautiful brick house there. My other brother, who lived with me a few years is living at home currently.
As recently as a year ago, Mom still asks if I don't think of going back, I could always teach chemistry at the high school. It would probably be good for us to move to a small town, as our lives are always in high gear, but I get paid too much to just quit.
With the passing of my grandma a few years ago, my Mom has taken more of the lead as far as being the family Matriarch. She is well suited for the role, as her house is generally where we have always gathered as a family. She has two sisters in town and one who lives 40 miles away and one brother in town and another who lives in San Antonio. I think she feels locked in to her role as the center of activity, whether she likes it or not. We always invite them for the holidays, like Thanksgiving, but she has always insisted that she needs to be there, to keep everyone else together.
I am glad she has most of her grandkids a few feet away as they are the focus of her life, nowadays. I wish my boys lived closer, to spend more time with her, growing up I did learn a lot from her. I joke around about being a perve and all that but at my core, everyone knows I am a good and honest person and that is a reflection of the upbringing I had. Thanks for the lessons Mom, I love you.
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