Why I Am So Proud Of My Mother

I want to let the world know that I am so proud of my mother. I want to shout it from the rooftops. So listen up world as I’m going to brag about some of the wonderful accomplishments that she has achieved throughout her lifetime to date.

Firstly she gave birth to me. Wow! Now that has to be something to shout about. She gave me the greatest gift that can be given to any human – and that is life. She carried me for nine months before I gasped for air and then loved me throughout my childhood, on through my teenage years and well into adulthood.

Of her childhood I know little except that at some point her mother and father separated and divorced and with her other siblings was deposited into a home with strangers. I can only imagine the pain experienced for a child to be plucked from their surroundings and placed into the care of strangers.

At the tender age of 14 she left school and took up employment. In 1957 she was married and took up residence with my father in a two bedroom fibro house at Peakhurst South, a southern suburb in the city of Sydney Australia at the age of 18, and then gave birth to me when she was 20 years of age.

When I was six years old she decided that she wanted to learn the piano and at the same time I was included in the equation. This is when I took my first piano lessons and developed my love for music.

Throughout my childhood, although a stay at home mum, she was always busying herself by teaching Sunday school, taking on piano students, teaching Scripture at our local school and even took on the responsibility of a foster child when I was nine.

Back To School

Mum was always willing to learn new things. There was an insatiable desire that she had to learn new things and meet new people. It was unstoppable, and culminated when I was nearly  eighteen years of age when she announced that she was going to go back to school with the intentions of becoming a school teacher.

So while I was nearing the end of my own studies at school my mother attended a local college to study for her year 11 exams. She did so well that she skipped a year and was promoted straight into teacher’s college. That’s where she spent the next three years before qualifying as a fully fledged primary school teacher.

From that day on she continued to keep learning and ultimately became a teacher at the very school that I had started out at the age of 4. By the time she retired she had reached the position of executive teacher, and if she had so desired could have gone on to become principal.

When I wrote the orchestral music for a musical that was performed at our church there was mum volunteering to conduct a full orchestra, something she had never done before, but fearlessly she stepped up and successfully did just that.

She was the first one in our family who owned an apple computer and even to this day, now in her seventies, keeps up to date with the latest technologies that are available to use.

Gifted as a cook. Creative with her hands  - producing works of art that adorn our beds and my children’s beds. Always taking part in this group and that group. Recently she had her photo in a local newspaper as she championed a cause in her local area to keep a space free for the walking of dogs and for health and recreation for the dog owners.

Fearless. Motivated. Avid learner. Proactive. Creative.

That’s my mother.

And the other thing that tops it all is the fact that she had me in church from the very day that I was born, and it is because of that positioning that I eventually met my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. My faith is a direct result of her spiritual influence on my life throughout those years.

I love her and respect her for all the good that she has deposited into my life through word and action.

She also invested into my life the love of books by buying me and reading to me the books that won book awards. I know that I am a writer today because of her direct influence in that area.

My mother, and her name is June, as she was born in the month of June, inspires me to be the same to my children and grand children along with all those others, like yourself, that I have the privilege of influencing throughout my lifetime.

May I encourage you to be proud of someone in your life, and don’t ever forget to tell them.