Every Tuesday, I participate in the Slice of Life challenge at Two Writing Teachers. Every March, the Slice of Life Challenge is a month-long experience where Slicers post every single day for the entire month. I'm joining in on the monthly challenge this year! For more information on what a Slice of Life post is about, you can go here.
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When my sister was little, she wrote a poem that hung in our kitchen for a long time. I remember this line: "My mom is the best, she's not like the rest." And it's true; my mom's pretty awesome. Actually, now that I think about it, she's the nicest person I know.
My mom is patient and kind and loving. Of course, I'm her daughter and she's great to me and our family but growing up, I saw how she's just plain nice to everyone. Any time she took me to work with her, we would walk down the hall or in her office and she always said hi to everyone and they all knew her and were happy to see her. She is always willing to help others and give up her own time to help others. Because she is bilingual, she often helps people who speak Spanish but aren't as fluent in English. More than anything though, she sincerely wants to help others. She never complains or gets frustrated, she's glad to help them. She's simply friendly or amable as we would say in Spanish.
While she is always ready to help, she's even more ready to do a good job. I'm going to say she's a perfectionist in the nicest sense of the word. She's not a perfectionist to be competitive, she's a perfectionist because she believes it's important to do things right. I remember working on school projects and she would come over with her ruler to help me measure something or make me erase really good if I made a mistake. She would rather start over and get it right than accept something that could be better.
I do have to say there are times when our personalities clash and we have to talk through things and come to terms with our differences. See, I'm more like my dad in a lot of ways. I think this means my mom and I balance each other out but it's interesting to look at how we are different.
- One way we are different is that my mom uses information to understand things while I often use my instincts. She'll read directions, call for information, or go by the book while I'll trust my intuition and make decisions that just feel right. The best example of this is she'll use a ruler and I'll eyeball it.
- Another way we are different is that she takes her time to make decisions - checking with everyone to make sure no one's feeling are hurt and that she accounts for everyone's needs. I'm much more likely to dive in and then make things work for everyone. There are times when deciding where and what time to meet for breakfast on a Saturday can go around in circles until I finally say it's time we make a decision that works for most of us and it'll all be okay.
- And finally, my mom is often traditional in her thinking. I think this comes in part from when and where she grew up. Growing up in Guatemala in the 50's and 60's was obviously different from growing up in a north-shore Chicago suburb in the 80's and 90's. One big difference I see in this is that I'm much more independent and even a bit (maybe a lot?) of a feminist compared to my mom. I'm much more likely to
breakbend the rules while my mom is happy to follow them as much as possible.
While we have our differences, I see how we are similar and how I share many of my mom's values and beliefs. I believe in doing my best and giving my all to whatever I do. I value family and friends and our loyalty to each other. Writing this makes me see how truly great my mom is and again how lucky I am. It's amazing how stopping to gather our thoughts and write them down helps us think more closely upon things that we know so well.
To read my previous Slice of Life posts, click on any link below:
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