Like Mother, Like Daughter

Sometimes I am just like my mother. Although I never thought I would ever hear myself say that. When I was a teenager I promised myself I would never be like my mother! I thought she was overprotective, unreasonable and just didn’t understand me! So in order to show her that I was grown I moved out at 19 to “live my own life”. And boy did I show her I was back home in 5 months!

Looking back now I often ask myself was my mother that unreasonable? I mean she let me come back home although I had hurt her so much by leaving. Was she too protective or was she just trying to protect me from the very thing that ended up happening? Did she really not understand me or did she understand me all too well, which is why she often knew my next move before I did?

Now that I have 2 daughters I find myself struggling with the same questions that my mother must have. How do I protect my daughters without being overprotective? How do I make difficult decisions that are in their best interest without seeming too unreasonable? How do I get them to realize that I do understand what they are feeling because I went through the same things not that long along? (I mean I am only 41 for goodness sake!)

This past November my mother turned the beautiful age of 70 and we surprised her with a tribute to her life presented by all 5 grandchildren. As she sat there with tears of happiness in her eyes I began to realize that I am just like my mother. I am doing the best that I can for my children and if that means that sometimes they think that I am overprotective, unreasonable and not understanding that’s okay because it is done out of love. I only hope that one day they too can say sometimes I am just like my mother.