Day #21: Healers with Heart

Since I essentially thanked my best friend, Libes, for her part in my past recovery from an eating disorder, today I'd like to thank my mom.

 

[2011. Isn't she lovely?]

She's a healer and caregiver in her own rite, besides being a mother. She's a registered nurse who worked on the psychiatric unit of a hospital for a a few years, then on the mother/baby unit of a hospital for several more years, then decided to become a certified school nurse. Now, she gets to enjoy her summers off and her weekends to herself. She is a woman of many talents; she sews, she paints, she collects sea glass, and is addicted to coffee.

In addition to the obviously healing role she has filled as a nurse for 3 decades, she was a caregiver to her elderly aunt (my great-aunt) for a large chunk of my childhood, and a caregiver to her father (my Grampy) who passed away in 2007. And of course, she raised my younger brother and me.

She's strong, she's capable, and she has a big heart.

She gives all of us (her best friend, my husband, my sister-in-law, my brother, me) gifts on HER birthday. She delights in our presence. Being a mom is priority for her.

But she's so much more.

I have always been close to my mother, so I'm sure when I was struggling with my eating disorder she was at a loss. She found me the best eating disorder specialist. She intervened when she thought I could use the push and stepped back when she thought I needed space. She has always supported me - through childhood ambitions, school undertakings, family troubles, my eating disorder, my marriage, my post-graduate education, my infertility problems. She spent her time, her energy, her money.

So many people would give their right arm for a mom like mine. I am so lucky.

She is one of the most non-judgmental people I know.

She is silly, but she is so smart.

She is funny, but she is honest.

She is my mom, but she is more than my mom. She's my consistent supporter, my friend, my cheerer-upper, my partner in crime (not literally of course!), my biggest fan.

Thanks, Mom.

[2011.]