The Beginning

Let me begin by saying that I am a mom to two great daughters and wife to an amazing man. I had dreamed of being a mom like many dream of being a star, and I poured my time and energies into our daughters.  I taught them to be polite and gracious, to cook and sew, paid for their teeth to be white and straight, and encouraged them through music lessons and then college. Then, both girls dumped their father and I for good-looking shirts.  

Daughter #1 got married, left home, and started med school - so now she is very busy with her wife and doctor-to-be life. (I sure miss the cream puffs she used to make for me). 

A year later, Daughter #2 got married and moved to a foreign country on the other side of the state with her singing accountant husband and is busy helping him count. (I miss walking and talking with her.)  THAT’S what you get for helping them become beautiful, educated, talented, and well-adjusted.

You moms of young girls, just be ready for it happens in a blink.  One day you are wearing dress-up clothes and having a tea party, and the next day she’s dressed up in a wedding gown and dancing with her groom!  Maybe we should have not done braces, not corrected double negatives, let them put their feet on the table and chew with their mouths open...then maybe they would still live at home. I have given child-raising much thought and next time I will share some wisdom on how to raise daughters who won’t go to medical school or get married and leave home.

Now, that amazing man I mentioned...I started to say extraordinary, but the word looks like it should mean extra or very ordinary-and anything to do with “ordinary”  just isn’t Bob.  He is amazing, though.  He is a jack of all trades (except trades that involve electricity or engines).  Bob can do anything that involves wood, PVC pipes, or sheetrock.  And, if it can be covered with putty, mud, or masking tape, he can repair it. That isn’t really what makes me thing he is amazing, though.   He was a Green Beret in Vietnam, County Sheriff for 10 years, and is a 6th degree black belt...but that isn’t really amazing either.  

What I find really amazing is that he can burp 6 syllable words, knows every gas station attendant by name, and make me laugh when I am so mad I want to hit him.  And, though he has the “tough man” resume, everyone thinks of him as a sweet teddy bear and somehow it is me who has the reputation as the “tough” one in the family as his straight-toothed daughters coddle their teddy bear father and call him their hero!  I am constantly amazed that he manages to get me to be one to move the cows by telling me how great I am at it and causing me to think myself special for it.  Yep, I will end by saying I am mom to two great daughters and one amazing man.

Coming up:

Parenting a Daughter 101- Part 1

     ...learn from the mistakes I made.

 “How NOT to raise a daughter that gets married and leaves home”