On July 5, 2011, I loaded up my CRV with a suitcase, my cat, and the last few items I needed to bring with me to St. Louis from home. My mother and sister, Morgan, joined me for the seemingly-endless 11 hour drive from to Dallas to St. Louis as I made my final move to Missouri.
Old pictures of our soaking-wet Walmart run from when I moved into my loft
On July 5, 2012, my mother and sister, Aubree, came to St. Louis to spend the holiday weekend with Darren and me in our new townhouse. We saw Dierks Bentley live under the arch and explored some of the city's most popular tourist spots.
Old picture from our concert under the arch last year
On July 5, 2013, my mother was here, yet again, wrapping up a lovely week of visiting. I am so lucky and blessed to have a mother like mine, one I admire and one I can turn to for help with anything. I love that we've created this tradition of being together around the fourth of July holiday, and hope that it continues in the future. Each year, we find a new way to celebrate, and each year the distance seems a little less far.
Us together on her first night in STL
This year, Mom came to visit for almost a week. Here are our fun adventures (and I highly recommend these for any of you who have STL visitors this time of year):
-Enjoyed a slice of STL-style pizza at
Pi (we chose the yummy Pi Bites and semi-healthy Lincoln Park pizza) & cooled off with some delicious custard at
Ted Drewes
-Shopped 'til we dropped at West County Center (my local mall)
-Explored
Fair St. Louis on the Fourth
-Had a lazy morning off and enjoyed reading this great new book (first of a series, soon to come out as a movie) by Veronica Roth called
Divergent
-Gazed at the night sky with friends as Kirkwood set off a magical fireworks display
-Saw Phyllis Smith (from The Office) perform at the
Muny's production of Nunsense
Our Fourth of July celebrations: Fair STL at the Arch, yummy homemade patriotic cookies, & Leonard sleeping on the blanket my Mom Mom made
Enjoying Nunsense at The Muny (and the weather was BEAUTIFUL)
Putting our toes in the neighborhood pool to cool off (prior to giving each other pedicures)
I've always known that I have an amazing mother. She was loving, patient, kind, intelligent, supportive, encouraging, and inspiring as I grew up. Since becoming an adult, I have realized that the relationship that I have with my mom is not only unique, but also one of the biggest blessings God has given me. To be completely honest, moving away from Texas wasn't just difficult because I was leaving Darren and my home state, but also because I was leaving one of my best friends. I knew that our random lunch dates, late night talks, Just Dance competitions, Kohl's shopping excursions, and nightly neighborhood walks would be extremely limited.
But, move I did... and so we are left with phone calls and text messages on top of the occasional visits. This time, I will go 6 months until the next time I get to see my mom. Thank goodness for modern technology, right?
Enough sappy stuff, onto the reason why I'm writing all of this. I wanted to share 5 of the best lessons my mom has taught me over the years:
1.
Happiness is a choice. Nobody is going to make you happy. No job, no income, no lifestyle, no piece of clothing, no pet, no spouse, no sport, and no accomplishment will ever make you content. You have to choose it for yourself. You have to take what you have, make the most of it, and decide that you are going to be happy.
2.
Lower your expectations. Related to the happiness point, if you have high expectations, you will be disappointed. This applies to every relationship you have.
3.
Do not let society determine your values. We live in the age of political correctness and grey areas. Use a combination of your faith and unbiased information available to you to decide your opinion on what is important and how you should treat other people, and do not sway from that. No matter what current opinion is popular.
4.
Women can be engineers. Or scientists, mathematicians, etc. I know this isn't news, but sometimes "knowing" that there
are women in these roles is very different from knowing that women are
capable of being in these roles. I do not know that I would've pursued engineering had my mom not paved the way by being one herself. Because she did it, I knew I could, too.
5.
If it is to be, it is up to me. If you want to be successful, you have to work hard to earn it. Simple as that.
These may seem simple enough, but they continue to impact my life as I make choices regarding my life and career. Since I am not yet a mother myself and do not have a child to pass these along to, I wanted to share them here in order to hopefully help some of you. Her words of wisdom deserve to be spread, and I know that they can make a difference!
