1. How to Bake THE BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies
My Opa (grandfather) was a baker, I have uncles who have been bakers and my Mom has always loved baking. Our house often smelled of cookies, cakes or bread. I don’t know if it’s a family recipe, but I have never found a better recipe for chocolate chip cookies than the one she makes!
2. How To Be Organized
Seriously, my mom is THE most organized person you will ever meet! Her house is always tidy and everything has a spot to be. Unfortunately, I have no inherited all the organization skills from my mother, but I know how to run a good family calendar because of her (as she used to say “if it’s not on the calendar, it’s not happening”) and my kitchen cupboards are fairly organized because of her!
3. Banking, Budgeting & Taxes
I remember my mom spending evenings going through and balancing their bank books. She did it all by hand back then, no apps to keep track of everything back then like we use now. I don’t know if they had a specific budget, but I’m sure they did! I know things were tight, and she definitely knew where every penny was going. And taxes, my mom still helps me with my taxes! She worked at H&R Block for years and then did taxes from home for quite a few more years and every year at this time I head over there to get her help in doing my taxes!
4. It’s OK to Ask For Help
I think this is a tough one for a lot of people. Most of us are fairly independent and don’t want to admit that we can’t do it on our own and need help. When my oldest child was born 11 weeks early, we had a crash course in this! I’m thankful I was raised knowing it’s Ok to ask for help. My family could not have done that 69-day hospital stay without the help from our family and friends; from driving me back and forth to the hospital, to providing meals and even cleaning our apartment before we came home.
5. Laughter is the Best Medicine
There was a lot of laughter in our house growing up. My Dad was a bit of a jokester and we never took ourselves too seriously. In difficult times, sometimes the best thing to do was just laugh, we did that often.
6. The importance of Education
Education was always a high priority in our family. My parents sent us to a private school, so there were a lot of sacrifices made for our education. We were never pressured to go on to college or university, but I do believe all my siblings and I have a desire to continue to learn as we’ve gotten older.
7. Family Comes First
Every day at 5:30 pm, we all gathered at the supper table. It was mandatory, we all sat down and ate our meal as a family. Of course, we hated it at times growing up, but I’m thankful for it now. It really made us see that family is a priority. I also remember many family summer camping trips we took. I have 3 siblings and we all had our differences, but my parents still made it a point to bring us all together as a family.
8. Love for the Outdoors
Along with our yearly camping trips, my mom had us spend a lot of times outdoors growing up. Sometimes she probably sent us outside to play just to get out of her hair, but we also went on a lot of hikes, walks, trips to the lake etc. We spent a lot of time outdoors and I still like doing the same with my kids now and hope to pass on the same love of the outdoors to them.
9. An apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
Now, I don’t know if this saying has any truth to it, but I do know my mom eats and apple every single day and she doesn’t get sick that much! I can’t say I even really remembering my mom being sick growing up other than maybe the sniffles or something. So, maybe an apple a day does make a difference.
10. For Better or Worse, in Sickness and Health
My mom has shown me what love and marriage really means. My Dad has been sick for a number of years. Last year, it got to be too much for my mom to care for him at home. He now lives in a care home in Abbotsford. Even though he is deteriorating both mentally and physically, my mom is still there every single day. She sits with him, has tea with him, shows him pictures and takes him out on walks. She has shown me what unconditional love is. She’s shown it to us as her children, and she continues to demonstrate it to us as she stays by my Dad’s side in his sickness.
