There are so many things you don’t appreciate about your mom until you’re older. I am guilty of that! Not until I was a mom did I understand the sacrifice, dedication, and patience my mom modeled for my siblings and me. So today, I’m Celebrating Mom. My mom, Linda, finished her degree when I was a baby, and went to grad school while working and being a mom my sister and 2 brothers. She worked, volunteered, taxi-ed, cooked dinner most nights, and she was even my language arts teacher and Assistant Principal in middle school.
Awkward.
As I grew up, I have watched her become a fabulous, and sometimes indulgent, grandmother (But what grandmother isn’t?), and I realize what a blessing it is that I still have her around. She is active and healthy and ready to travel on a moment’s notice!
Celebrating Mom
I am thankful for the lessons she has taught me over my lifetime and the strength, faith, and perseverance she has always modeled. In the last year and a half, those characteristics have been magnified.
In January of 2016, Mom was diagnosed with a rare, life-threatening, and irreversible kidney disease, and within two months she began daily peritoneal dialysis. She had to do this procedure daily at home, which took 8+ hours, after she had already worked a full day. Because of her otherwise good health, she was a perfect candidate for a kidney transplant. At first, she was not interested in one of her family members being her donor. My sister, my brothers and my dad were all ready and willing to donate. Mom eventually agreed and we all began the workup.
The donor workup through the Texas Transplant Institute took a couple of months, and by May we had a donor (me) and a transplant date. Mom continued to endure daily dialysis, and she and dad even did a little traveling. A little thing like renal disease and dialysis weren’t going to slow mom down! Mom’s kidney transplant was last July and she has done fabulously. As soon as she was given the OK by her transplant team, she and dad were off to Canada on another trip!
Nearly a year after transplant, mom is doing well, still working and globetrotting with dad, and she continues to be a role model that I can only hope to aspire to be like one day.
My Mom’s life example is part of the inspiration I have to be the wife, mom, nurse, and business owner I strive to be daily. Thank you for everything, Mom. I love you and Happy Mothers’s Day.
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