I remember my mother telling me: “You will understand me one day when you have your own children.” She was right, as a working mother and the engineer in the 60’s and 70’s she was a trailblazer. As an artistic person, she juggled career, family and home, at the same time writing poetry and always pursuing her artistic side. I only understood her challenges fully beginning about twenty some years ago, when I became a mother and started our antique business.
Mom has always been an inspiration to me, as well as the source for my foundations as she began to teach me about antiques, art and history from an early age. But the biggest inspiration she provided has been the strength of her character and her pioneering spirit.
Fast forward to today, our children have grown up: our son Chris is a great gourmet chef at the 2nd Street Bistro in Montana. Our daughter Rebecca is finishing college and working with us in the business, bringing a vibrant and young perspective. Both are creative and talented adults that are carving their imaginative niche in life, and my hope is that as they grow with their families, they will inspire their children as my mother and grandmother have inspired me.
Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers everywhere!
Being a mother is both the toughest job and the best job a woman can ever have, and I hope we all can continue to inspire and encourage the best in our future generations.
This lovely painting is this month’s Giveaway- just in time for Mother’s Day! It is a part of our collection of antique and reproduction original oil paintings showcased on our website. To see more of this beautiful art, visit our website.
To enter, just comment below to tell us about a female role model in your life. For an extra entry, like us on Facebook! We’ll announce the winner in one week.
My mother is my role model. If I can be half the mother she is, I’ll be doing great!!
My mom has been the most inspirational mother one could ask for. She raised me and my sister as a single mother, and we never knew that we had to do without certain things. She made sure our lives for full. I love her more than anything!!
My Grandmother was the biggest inspiration in my life. She was the strongest woman I ever knew, was tough as nails, but with a soft and loving hand. She inspired me to be myself, to value God, family and friends, to reach for the stars while still being content and thankful for the little things. I miss her everyday.
My Grandmother, and my Great Aunt were incredible role models. They spent their lives caring for others. They were the first people that taught me, that when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.. Their kindness, love, and faith in God always showed me the positive side of everything, and gave me the strength to to be the best person I can be. They were true “Steel Magnolia’s” and I thank God for the gift of knowing, and loving them.
“My mother.” It sounds so simple when you say it like that. You’d never know really how extraordinary this woman is. She grew up in a small town in Maine, attending a one room school house in a town of few. Moving to Arizona as a teen with her family was not something she exactly wanted to do. Now, everyone’s had their ups and downs in relationships, but my mother has had a full out roller coaster. Without the details, she raised my two eldest sisters on her own, working nights as a “waitress” at a very exclusive bar. Living in basements and half-assed apartments was not the woman my mother was inside. She became pregnant with me at the age of 37. My sisters were already well into their teens. Unfortunately this pregnancy would kill her. Six and a half months in ICU, multiple blood transfusions, the loss of my twin brother in utero, a c-section, and flat-lining on the operating table for a whole 4.5 minutes!, I was finally here. My mother truly gave her life for me but God was gracious enough to bring her back. The doctors were able to save her life. Through the years he has endured lupus, thyroid cancer and uterine cancer; and you will know she is perfectly well, married, happy and living in her “cabin in the woods” of Alaska. So who is my mother? Maybe you should get to know. <3