I am my mother's daughter

I've had a very reflective day today.  A friend invited me to go for a walk in lieu of going to coffee.  There is something almost therapeutic about walking and talking with a friend.  It allows both of us to process things going on inside our heads while releasing a few endorphins along the way.

As we were chatting, the subject of our moms came up.  I explained that I grew up with 2 incredible women who taught me very different things over the years.  While people easily see some of the things I learned from my stepmom (cooking and quilting, for example), the fact of the matter is I am more like my mom than anyone else I know.

When I was a child, my mom was a single parent with 4 kids.  She had incredible organization skills, which she put to use to keep all four of us in activities and progressing in school.  That calendar boggles my mind to this day.  My mother never had it easy.  She worked for everything she ever had.  And when she did get something, she gave it away - usually to one of us kids.  Every day, my mom did her best to raise us.

The summer before second grade, I told my mom I was interested in Japanese culture.  She quickly introduced me to a Japanese friend of hers who could talk to me about Japan and signed me up for Japanese lessons in a summer school program.  She heard me and ignited a lifelong passion that led me to where I am today.

Over the years, she would encourage me in a sorts of crazy endeavors, but none so crazy as the day I decided to move to Japan immediately following college graduation.  While I know she didn't want me to move across an ocean, she applauded me and supported me nonetheless.  That's just the kind of mom she is.  She helped me pack up my house and took me to the airport.  I still have the card she gave me right before driving away, with some yen tucked inside (although the yen was quickly spent).

While in Japan, on my own, I found in myself one of the greatest gifts a mom could ever give her daughter - resilience and self-reliance.  Through good times and bad, my mom taught me to be a survivor.  She taught me that sometimes we fight to keep our head above water and other times we are able to torpedo out of it like a dolphin.  She demonstrated every day that just because we have current circumstances, they are not forever circumstances and if you work hard enough, you can change them.

As I go through life living in a foreign country, I rely on my resilience daily.  I don't often say it, but in all honesty, I don't think I'd be in Japan without the love, support, and lessons of resilience from my mom.  Out of all the lessons in life I hope to pass on to my son, this is of upmost importance.  I hope I'm up for the challenge.