Although all the pictures of my mother are packed away on
this Mother’s Day, I wanted to pause and reflect upon the woman who singularly
was the most influential person in my life.
My mother was loving but stern; eccentric but passionate;
kind but firm; and gentle but strong. I
truly never saw her act vengeful or mean.
Despite the mistakes I made, she was not prone to enacting feelings of
guilt. In so doing I never had to carry
a lot of emotional baggage. When she
took me to the library and let me loose to peruse the aisles of books, she
unknowingly (or perhaps knowingly) set my spirit free. She knew when to watch over me and when to
let me go—giving wings to my thoughts and imagination. She believed words and weaving them correctly into sentences was
way more powerful than any fist. She
taught me to think before acting, so I learned to embrace mindfulness and
compassion for life itself. She modeled
how to be an observer and in so doing I learned not to overreact.
So, here’s to you, Winifred Christine Stainbrook Etgen, the
quintessential mother. You were and
continue to be the perfect mother for me.
