What She Taught Me

This is a short, and by no means comprehensive, list, in no particular order. Just some thoughts I had on Mother's Day. Love you Mommy. xoxo

1. To eat polenta, tofu burgers, black and yellow couscous, oatmeal, cracked wheat, and drink carrot juice without complaining. To this day, I will eat anything with an open mind. 
2. That books are magic. They take us away from ourselves and our worries. They place us in another time and teach us empathy for others. Time spent reading is never time wasted. 
3. That truly great books have no age limit. She read me a 600 page biography of George Washington in 4th grade. She read me Dickens in 6th grade. 
4. To use a clean dishrag everyday and wipe the table and counters after every meal.
5. To make cream of tomato soup with tomatoes from the garden. 
6. To can peaches.
7. To talk on the phone, even though it terrified me.
8. To do my morning jobs before school and to do my Saturday jobs before playing. 
9. To clean every level of the toilet. 
10. To say, "Forgiven" after someone apologizes. 
11. To read the Book of Mormon before school. 
12. To love the Constitution. (See #3)
13. To do my own laundry. She held my little five year old feet so I wouldn't fall into the washing machine when I changed the laundry over. 
14. That I could play in a recital, even though it terrified me. 
15. That if I wanted to be good, I had to practice.
16. To love Vivaldi's Four Seasons. 
17. That Handel's Water Music would help me learn math.
18. That housecleaning was a lot more fun with Disney songs or Indigo Girls.
19. That fighting while she was on the phone was unacceptable. 
20. That I could tell stories. 
21. That I could be an artist.
22. To have family prayer every single night, even if we got home late. 
23. That I could be anything I wanted to be and accomplish anything I wanted to accomplish. 
24. To avoid "twaddle" in the books I read and the TV I watch.
25. To be a saver, not a spender.