Mother's Day

I suppose the most important gift a mother can give her children is not all the things she is busy doing for them but something of herself.

My mother was a teacher and she was serious about her teaching and also about her country. She would write letters to her congressman if she felt something should be changed.

We would hear her typing away on the old manual typewriter back in the bedroom. My mother was a tough woman. She put herself through high school working as a clerk in a law office. She then put herself through college and got her master's degree in education.

This was no small feat and she had a passion for education. She thought anyone could improve and yet she saw the needs of children around her and was concerned for "latch key" kids.

All of these seeds didn't, of course, mature in me until I was much older but I was prepared by my mother for the call to children when it came to me.

Her passion for education affected all of us. We all got college educations and teaching credentials although not all of us three sisters worked as teachers.

I don't know how she did all that she did. She did not cut corners. She taught, she shopped, she cooked, she cleaned and she and my Dad worked hard to be good parents and then grandparents.

She didn't have a lot but she had plenty inside. She had faith and she took us to church every Sunday and yes she taught Sunday school. Teaching and education were bedrock to her as were her faith. She gave much to her children, her students, and her community

In memory of my mother: Myrtle Sutherlin