Blessings and Sorrows

by Kathryn
(IL, USA)

Random acts of kindness and blessings and sorrows. Sadly, in August of 1978 my birth mother died. Just under two years later, my father remarried a lady who already had a seven year old daughter of her own.

It would have been very easy for this to turn into a Cinderella type of story, but because the lady my father married is a very giving person it didn't.

Mom had a choice and she chose to not be a "stepmother", but to be a "Mom." She did all the typical "Mom" things that I think a lot of people over look.

She fixed the scraped knees, made Halloween costumes, made birthday cakes and threw wonderful parties. She also went above and beyond the call of duty and worked with my Dad to make sure I kept in touch with my birth mother's family, even though they weren't, and still aren't, very nice to her.

Mom and I went through the typical teenage years and I was the typical difficult kid. I was probably harder on her than I should have been because I had people whispering in my ear about how much she hated me and how she treated my sister better.

There were days I felt like Cinderella! But, I grew up and I went to college. Living 600 miles away is a great way to get perspective.

From a distance, I started to see the things that other people in my life were doing and started to see some of the motives behind the actions.

For the first time, I was able to open up to my parents, especially my Mom, about stuff that had happened when I was little. I also started to see the blessings that were in my life instead of just the sorrows.

As I have grown from difficult teenager, to college student, to married woman, and now to almost a Mom I see the gifts that God gave me.

I had to wonderful women in my life. One was here for a short time and loved me enough to get me here.

The other chose to love me and chose to be a fantastic Mom to me. I hope that I have the best of both these women in me. The one who raised me has been a wonderful role model and I truly hope that I can take the things she has taught by example and teach them to my own daughter.