When we are kids, we don’t truly appreciate our parents because we are young and don’t know any better. The world is our oyster, and we are invincible. We enter the teen years, and the rebellion begins. Our parents are the enemy, and we don’t understand why we can’t do certain things they tell us not to do. We yell, we scream, we cry, we sulk, and still our parents love us, stand by us and protect us, and we still don’t fully appreciate them. Then life begins to get more serious. We grow into our 20’s, 30’s, 40’s etc., and we finally get it! We finally see the love, support and importance of our parents. We realize how blessed we are to have them, to hold them, to love them.

With Mother’s Day upon us, I thought it fitting to write how God blessed me with such an amazing, incredible mom. In my eyes, she was perfect. She was a woman of great faith who instilled God’s faith in me, ensured that I received all my sacraments and made sure that I attended Mass every week. My faith is strong and grows stronger because of her. Every day as I grew older, I could see Christ’s light within her, especially on her hardest days. My mom and dad worked in a hot, sweaty clothing factory. As a young child, I remember when mom’s work day was done and my dad stayed to work overtime, she would walk home (not an easy feat) and stop by the sitter’s house to pick me up. I remember the tremendous elation I felt seeing her coming down the steep hill where the sitter lived. My heart would almost burst with excitement and happiness. Even though she was exhausted from her hard work day and her walk, she always greeted me with a huge hug and kiss, and then we would walk the rest of the way home hand-in-hand.

There are numerous beautiful, treasured memories I could share about my beloved mother, but there is not enough space to elaborate on the kind of special woman that she was. I lost her six years ago, and my heart still aches. I know that many feel the same after losing their mother. God more than blessed me by letting me have her until she was 94 years old, and I feel her with me every day. So, in a way, she never left me. To those of you who still have your moms, use this special day to remind yourselves of how precious they are because you just never know when God will call them home. Make it a point every day to tell your mom you love her.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers in our community, especially for my mom in Heaven!
~Connie Pickles