I get it from my mom

I am more like my mom than I care to admit. I want to say I am my own person, but the reality is...i am a product of my mom and dad and well, they definately have had a major impact on who I am. I am fortunate, in that, I love my mom and dad and think they are amazing people, so at least I am a product of people I admire.
Anyway...for our anniversary in June, mom gave Shawn and I a card with reservations for a hotel downtown, money charged to the room and cash to go out. Piece de resistance, she volunteered to babysit the boys. A complete 24 hours all to ourselves! A gift beyond description.
It was awesome! Our hotel was about 4 blocks from downtown shopping, the theatre and the Cheesecake Factory (a personal favorite) and Shawn and I partook of it all! We slept in, woke up and slept some more. We chatted over good food and sipped drinks after we were done, without rushing to get anyone out of the restaurant. We sat through a movie together in peace and enjoyed walking around town, holding each other's hands. Ahhhh!
Now, knowing my mom, before I left the house, I changed the sheets, cleaned the bathroom from top to bottom, had a dinner ready and vacuumed the house. She is a cleaner and she is a helper and well, I knew if I didn't do it, she would. And so...I made sure things were in order. I came home to find my front yard weeded, my house dusted, a load of laundry done, the boys had been taken out to dinner and the backyard had been worked on. If I was gonna do the basics, she was going to go beyond. Pretty much, my mom paid us to go away and then continued to bless us as we were gone. It's humbling. And amazing.
I have some traits of my mom I could probably do without...our need to plan, plan, plan, our desire to have a place for everything and everything in it, our tendancy to see what needs to be done instead of what's been done, I am sure there are more that both of us choose to pretend aren't there too. These are things I think we would both love to learn to relax about. However, I can see my desire to serve people, to help people, to find ways to bless others, to give little gifts I know they would enjoy, to see others smile and know they feel special, to offer "let me do that for you"...has come from my mom as well. What an amazing legacy.
I don't think much about it, until I am the recipient. Mom blesses me in so many ways so often, I know I take it for granted. She is still my mom and well, sometimes I can get frustrated or take her for granted. But most days I am just amazed at all she does for her family and those around her. I hope I can be more and more like her as I get older and maybe continue to pass on the blessings she has passed to me! And I hope I can be the type of person that one day, my kids can proudly say, "Yeah, I get that from my mom!"