Health

My mom is going through a difficult time, again, with her health. Maybe I should say still. I won't go into details, since she deserves privacy, I'll just blog from a child's perspective.

It's tough as an adult child to see your parents go through health problems. My mom is the strongest woman I have ever known. Physically she has helped my dad on the farm and done jobs that required muscle and she is still stronger than some women, even in her weakest moments. She has resilence that you rarely find anymore. She doesn't give up. Even with undergoing a life change because of health over the past few years, she continued to work until her job was downsized and kept up the cleaning and cooking like nobody's business. If you know my mom, you know that this in and of itself is a full time job. She looks for dirt, she does not wait for it to show up.

I have watched this stong, independent, determined woman and admired her for years now. I watch as she keeps on keeping on. I know from things Chad says, that his mom had a determination too. He seems to admire that she worked through the pain. She stayed strong, as long as she could, from what I understand. Some people say this is a trait of a woman, I don't know maybe that's true?

As a child, I think it's important to realize that your parent needs you. They still need to be needed, they still need to be the mom. They still need to be able to do and it's so important to not imply otherwise, but it's important to find ways to be helpful without intruding too. I learned that early on with mom. I stopped telling her to stop, slow down, rest and decided she would figure that out on her own. Sure I told her that she could rest, if she wanted too, but if she didn't--don't. I stand by that. I would rather see her do as much as she can as long as she can then stop. What do we benefit in the life or give to others if we stop?

I hope that as I get older I draw from what I have seen in my mom. I hope that I am strong, independent and just plain resilent. I don't want my kids to ever think I gave up. Not on life, or on them. It would be even greater to not have health problems and just live till Jesus comes! :) But regardless of what unfolds in my life. I hope I keep the dignity that my mom has kept. I hope I can lean on my child's shoulder (if need be) like mom has occasionally, but I also hope that even in doing that I manage to show them, what my mom showed me, it's okay to be scared, it's ok to not know, it's ok to question why and it's ok to go on in spite of all that and keep on keeping on. I hope that I can do that and I'm proud of my mom for how she does it.