Music Notes

Challenge Day Three

You can achieve all the things you want to do, but it's much better to do it with loved ones around you; family and friends, people that you care about that can help you on the way and can celebrate you, and you can enjoy the journey. ~John Lasseter

Your most significant other(s) is/are....! Write about your loved ones (furry or not).

I'll write about my mom, since she's my closest relative and the loved one I spend most of my time with every day.

Mom lived quite a full and stressful life before I came along: three kids, moving from New York to Chicago to Florida to Arkansas and back to Florida, pursuing her Master's while working full-time, attempting to get a law degree and failing solely for lack of funds, losing her husband at an early age to a brain aneurysm.

She pushed ahead through mysterious stress-related illnesses which resembled MS or Lyme disease, but eventually ended up being granted Social Security Disability for back injuries and neurological damage.

This didn't stop her from doing great things with the rest of her life. We moved from hot, smelly Florida up to Tennessee when I was six, into a ranch home on an acre of hilly land in a dinky little William Faulkner town in the middle of nowhere.

When we got there, she immediately set to work improving the property: regrading the backyard to level off a piece of land for a garden and to prevent the patio from flooding, painting the front door and shutters white, painting the bathrooms, designing and installing faux accent arches to go over the windows, painting the dusky wood paneling in the family room white, even climbing up to the roof to help repair the chimney. I "helped," as much as a rather immature and scatterbrained kid could.

Pretty much singlehandedly, Mom transformed our home into a nature sanctuary over the years, taming most of the acre and filling it with butterfly plants, roses, junipers, crepe myrtles and herbs. We had wild rabbits, who never seemed to eat the plants except for the occasional petunia. We had a dozen different birds, including hummingbirds, cardinals, goldfinches, chickadees, and bluebirds. Both black and yellow swallowtail butterflies, monarchs, honeybees, bumblebees, toads, snakes… all manner of helpful creatures made our yard their home, even moles (much to the dismay of our grumpy old next-door neighbor ) It was glorious—when it wasn't a big pain in the rear end to take care of.

I have to admit I didn't always appreciate the amount of upkeep that yard required. The blazing summers were harsh, and we went through several years of insufferable drought followed by a year where it rained for a week straight at one point. I learned so much out there in the garden. I watched tiny seedlings grow up into big, beautiful flowers, and I was in tune with the changing seasons, as well as developing a firsthand knowledge of local weather patterns and mentally cataloging dozens of different types of plants. My mind was a virtual field guide; I could recognize the tiniest leaflet at a moment's glance.

This agricultural background and personal botanical experience has stayed with me through the years. Even though I haven't planted a flower or pulled a weed in over a decade, the lessons I've learned in that garden have grown deep roots.

These days, Mom spends most of her time indoors, working on arts and crafts projects. She loves miniatures and especially eighteen inch dolls of the American Girl sort, and plans to begin a YouTube channel showcasing her dollhouse creations. Often I sit down beside her with my iPad and she insists I "help" with whatever she's doing… I don't always want to, but I try my best

She's also a very devout person, spending many years studying the major monotheistic religions and seeking spiritual truth. She lives even more like a nun than I do, eschewing everything related to worldly culture and striving for a deeper understanding of God and worldview.

Mom is an excellent role model and example for me; I wish I could be more like her. She's hard-working, wise, kindhearted, loving and generous and intelligent. I don't know what more I can say; she's been the single greatest influence on my life so far.

Word Count: 662.