Give Thanks #29

Today I am giving thanks to the two people who influenced my life the most- my parents. Many of my friends tease me that I grew up in Brady Bunch land, or got to live in a beautiful bubble, because of the memories I have growing up, and all that my parents still do for me today.



I had a very care free up bringing- that did not mean we got everything we wanted. My parents were very frugal, my mom made our clothes, and birthday cakes. My mom taught me how to sew when I was about 8 and tried many times how to teach me how to polka. Which to this day I can not do. Saturday mornings before we could play we had our cleaning chores, but we would do them while listening & dancing to the polkas.

My mom and Michael get along very well. She finds him very amusing, and loves his sense of humor. I think I get my sense of humor from both of my parents- I like that they both enjoy life. My Dad likes Michael too, however he likes everybody.

Although I did not get in trouble that much, my mom new how to dish out creative punishments. Once she did all her Christmas cookie baking early and froze the cookies. Well my sister and I found them and ate them all! We got 100 hours of cleaning for that one. Another time, I can't remember what we did, but it was in the summer time, and mom thought it would do us both good to go to church for a week and repent. I remember mom would sit a couple pews back from us checking that we showed up- thinking we were just coming on our own the priest was most impressed with us.


My dad made our house and our toys. I always remember him having some project or something up. He taught us how to ride horses, and play all sports. He took us fishing, yet I still will not bait my own hook, or take a fish off the hook. My dad would listen to country music when it wasn't the thing to do. He loved to take long drives in the country. As a kid sometimes these drives could end up somewhere fun, other times they were just long drives. My dad to this day when our visits come to an end still tries to give me $20 just in case of emergency. (did I mention I am 44!)

My parents both valued education. My mom took us to the library when we were little. I couldn't wait to read- however to my dismay it came painstakingly slow (due to slight dyslexia). When I was in 9th grade our first day we were reading the book Shane, most people finished 2 1/2 chapters in class, I was still on the first chapter and we were not allowed to bring the book home- I was very scared I was going to fail out of high school. That night my dad and I searched the local bookstores, and we finally found a copy at a small book exchange store for 25 cents. (now this was way before the age of a Boarders and Amazon.com). When I had to read Shakespeare, I could not get through the prose, and my mm read aloud Cesar to me. She also read the Iliad to me. (and I did very well on those tests)

My parents taught me how to be a good Christian person. My mom was actually in the convent for a bit- but never became a full nun. Although my sister went to Catholic school, my mom thought the nuns were way too harsh so I was not sent. Instead my mom taught us CCD at home through us putting on puppet shows. I made my first holy communion at our house. My dad rarely misses church, when I was swimming my dad & I would go to the Fisherman's (6:30 am) service, and if I had a weekend meet he would always find us a church to attend on Sunday. Both of them have given me in there own ways a strong belief in God which I find very comforting.

Both my parents would do anything and everything for me- as they have proved over and over again- I have so many wonderful stories about them, but I will leave them for another blog. But as my 30 days of thanks draws to a close, I wanted to save my biggest thanks til the end. So thank you mom and dad for making me the person I am, accepting who I turned out to be, and always being there. I LOVE YOU!