Learning About My Mom

A funny thing happened when my dad bought a new computer this year with a much larger monitor: my mom started spending more time on the internet. She’ll search Google for topics she finds of interest and looks at the pictures and news posted to our family website.

She also started reading my blog.

Although I’ve kept a blog for many years I’ve never given much thought to my mom or dad coming across it till this year. It’s not that I’ve written anything I’d worry about them reading but I didn’t give much thought how it might influence or affect them.

A few months ago my mom read a post I wrote about my divorce and another about leaving a miserable job. I happened to speak with her on the phone that next weekend and I was surprised to hear that she was interested in what I’d written because it provided details she’d not heard before. Which makes sense because I didn’t live close to my family during these two difficult times in my life.

I told my mom during our conversations that “my blog is like a journal” to me and that I hope it lasted long enough for my kids to one day read. I asked my mom if she’d let me read parts of her journal, and I was shocked when she said yes. When my father flew up to visit us a few weeks ago he brought with him a handful of pages from her journal comprising the year 1987. This is the year after I graduated high school and began serving my mission in Germany.

My mom has the most gorgeous penmanship which was not handed down by gene or otherwise. She wrote mostly in dark ink on lined 3-ring binder paper but occasionally tossed in a colored marker to keep things interesting. I began reading her journal that afternoon and couldn’t put it down. I stayed up till 2 am until I’d finished reading every word. It was fascinating, encouraging and humbling. I learned a lot about my mom and our family. My mom is a kind person with a strong will and quick wit and that comes through in her writing style. We also have at least one more trait in common: we both enjoy writing.

Tonight I sealed her journal in a manilla envelope and will mail it back to her tomorrow. My hope is that she’ll continue to send me pages to read. I am not going pressure her, but I’ll be grateful for whatever she’s willing to send me. She’ll continue to read my blog and learn more about her son and I hope I’ll continue to learn more about her life and what it was like raising 5 kids on a teacher’s salary.

My mom is an amazing woman.