Life Lessons

The person that has taught me many important life lessons is my mother. It would be so hard to include just one lesson on here like I was asked, so I'll include as many as I can. Due to my father's constant traveling for his military service, she has sometimes had to raise me practically by herself. He still is very active in my life, though.

One of the lessons my mother taught me was to give everything your all, and that sometimes includes sacrifice. Mom sacrificed the majority of her own teenage years and her early twenties to juggle school, work and take care of and provide for her younger sister while her single mother worked long hours as a nurse in various retirement homes. I had to sacrifice part of my own adolescence while my father was deployed to Iraq. Without my mother, I don't think I would have been able to do that.

Another lesson my mother taught me was to always have good manners since that can make people truly enjoy your presence. An example of this is that she'll even tip servers in restaurants that were rude to her or provided unsatisfactory service because she knows that they're just trying to make a living. She was always proud when my classmates' and friends' parents would come up to her and say, "I'm glad you raised a polite child. I don't have to worry about having your daughter around my kids because I know that she's a good influence."

My mother also taught me the importance of valuing your body by keeping it as healthy as possible. When I was little, she often would not let me have the Twinkies or Double-Stuffed Oreos that many of my friends were having and I would be angry about that. Looking back on that and seeing the reports of poor health among my generation, I realize that my mother was not being mean like my six-year-old self thought she was being, but rather she has given me a gift that would last me a lifetime.

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