To Be a Pioneer

For some months now it has been no mystery to me that new glasses would definitely be in my future.

Thanks to a change in our vision insurance, an eye exam and new glasses could finally be put on the table! I even got a little crazy and considered contacts.

I recently purchased a three-month supply of contacts & new glasses. I love my glasses!

But it is with a certain level of chagrin that I admit the come-back of large frame glasses make me look a lot like my mother when she was entering the phase of parenting that I am also about to enter (ie, parenting two children instead of just one).

Please don’t get me wrong. My mom is beautiful. I have always thought that, even when she did not feel beautiful herself. But there really is something about realizing that you look like your parents.

 

 

This realization has actually allowed me to think about the title of my blog – My Mother Told Me. There are a lot of things my mother told me, but I often feel as though there is a lot my wonderful mother could not prepare me for in the world we both live in today.

My mom once shared with me that when she graduated high school in the mid-1980’s the world was still very much one where you could get a decent job, if you needed one, with a high school diploma. Early in her marriage my parents’ marriage, she worked as a Home Health Aide and a Certified Nursing Assistant. But it became clearly pretty quickly that the world was quickly changing and she would need a degree for a job that was financially “worth it”. As I am the oldest of six, the cost of working was definitely too high.

So my mom stayed home with us. My parents “paid” for that in different ways and today my mom is a paraprofessional for special needs kids & a middle-school nurse.

I am now raising my children in a world where two incomes are almost definitely necessary when raising a family. The difference between one and two incomes means the difference between being able to sleep in a bed & sleeping on the floor or making it necessary for you children to share a bed.

There is nothing in my life, or my mother’s life, that could have prepared us for the financial realities of raising our families (my two youngest brothers are 16 and 14) in the 21^st century.

But there are many things that I am prepared for because of the way my parents raised me and the way they navigated the brave new world in which they found themselves when raising young children.

I believe the lessons I learned can be summed up in one of my all-time favorite Primary songs.

You don’t have to push a handcart, leave your family dear, or walk a thousand miles or more to be a pioneer.

You do have to have great courage, faith to conquer fear, and work with might for a cause that’s right to be a pioneer.

If there is anything my mother told me, it is to be courageous and always try to do the right thing even when it’s scary. I don’t always succeed, but as I talked about two weeks ago you definitely get points for trying.

 

 

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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://rachelahanson.blog/2016/04/20/to-be-a-pioneer/

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