Lessons From My Mother

Almost everyone has seen the posters or the books that claim "Everything I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten", but I recently came to the conclusion that it wasn't true. Almost everything I ever needed to know, I learned from my mother.

I was talking with friends at the Accentuate Services Writers Forum and it dawned on me that my mother taught me everything about life and living that I needed to know. It may not be true for everyone, but it is for me.

The Basics

Long before I started kindergarten, my mother had taught me all kinds of seriously important things. I knew my name and address, my mother's full name, my grandparents' names and their address and phone number.

My mom taught me to write my name, much to the chagrin of my first few teachers who complained that I mixed capitals and lowercase willy-nilly. Mom didn't care that she had taught me "wrong". I knew how to do it, didn't I?

It just meant I had to work a little harder in penmanship to do it the "right way".

When I was in first grade, my mother taught me to count money long before we learned it in school. I think I was five. And, Michigan had a bottle deposit, so I learned to collect bottles to exchange them for things I wanted. Mom taught me to count money so I knew I was getting the right amount of money back.

Somewhere in there, she taught me to get my own breakfast, dress in clothes that basically matched, and respect my elders.

The Bigger Stuff

When I got a little older, my mother taught me to love poetry. I was in third grade when she helped me memorize Edgar Allen Poe's "Annabelle Lee" for class. I wonder if she remembers doing it?

She didn't do it on purpose, but when my youngest brother was born, she taught me courage. My middle brother was born with a genetic disorder and the entire time she was pregnant with Jason, my baby brother, the doctor told her there was fifty-fifty chance he would have the same genetic problems. She had him anyway.