Happy Birthday Mom

 When we think of heroes, we often think of larger than life characters such as Superman, John Wayne and in my case; Ronald Reagan. But my real hero will always be my mother. 10 foot of all Texan packed into a 5'2'' frame.
  Mom was the one person we kids knew we could always rely on. She was the first to be asked to help out at school and with extracurricular activities. She was a band mom, worked with Scouts and never missed anything we kids participated in. Okay lotta moms do that, but how many drove a car home from Second Monday at 5 miles an hour while her nine year old son  held a lead line through the window to bring home a pony she bought on a deal?
  Let me tell y'all some more about our mother. she was what I like to call a "Leftivist". No, she wasn't a Leftist but a "Lefty". Not sure why, but lefties didn't seem to be so prevalent in those days. Might be we lived in a small town and not as noticeable.  Mom actively crusaded for lefties. She tried us all out as kids.I was at best ambidextrous and until our youngest sister was born, I was the closest thing to a lefty in the family. Do not laugh or scoff, I think if Laura had been a righty, there might be more of us. I'm just kidding but you never know.
 Here's a few more things about her I'd like to share. Mom took care of us, but she never over "mothered" if you follow. She encouraged us to be independent and self sufficient. In fact, she encouraged(insisted) we earn our allowance. She also taught me to ride a bike, sit a horse, play baseball and a lot of other things a dad was supposed to teach his son. She did just fine.
  But she also instilled in me a love of Texas. Not just the state, but a state of mind that comes from knowing you are a Texan. She bought me books on the early days of the Republic, on its early settlers and on its geography. And I think this kinda played into the most  important thing she ever taught me. Respect. Respect for myself as well as others. For without self respect, how can you respect others? I was taught to keep my hands off others and to expect the same from them. To be able to back up, but not down and to respect the rights of others; and to be able to stand  up for my own.
  Mom has been gone for a while now, but she still lives in all us kids. We still talk about her and remember our times with her. Some good, some rough, but never any real bad times, She wouldn't have allowed that.

Happy Birthday Mother

1935-1994