Mom, my brother Mark & me
September 1970, in Camp Kue, Okinawa
Sometimes it is hard to imagine the fact that our mothers had a whole different life before they became parents … but they did!
My mom, Sarah Kate, was born to parents who were both from pioneer Texas families. Mom grew up riding horses on her family’s ranch. She traveled the western United States with her mother and brother, exploring national monuments and state parks. She had pen pals in foreign countries, some of whom she corresponded with for years. She grew up watching and learning from strong women like her mother, grandmother, and great-aunt.
Mom and her babies
When she was a little girl, mom wanted to own a frog farm, be a pastor’s wife, or be a nurse. Because her mother had told her about people in the prison system who were serving time after being unjustly incarcerated, mom switched gears and decided that when she grew up she wanted to open a rehabilitation center for former prisoners.
Mom attended college in Hawaii for a summer semester after high school and then, as her mother had before her, she graduated from a north Texas university. Between her junior and senior years, she taught Vacation Bible School to Navajo children on an Arizona reservation.
Mom had dreams, goals and ambitions; she had a LIFE before she was a mom.
After college, mom met my father — and enlisted Air Force man from a coal mining town in Pennsylvania. They fell in love, and they were married.
Mom moved all over the US and Asia with my father, and they raised two kids on an enlisted man’s salary. She was frugal — as I child I learned from her how to find treasures in thrift stores, how to window shop, and whether I wanted to or not — how to wait for sales.
Three generations: mom, me and my daughter, Sarah
My mother has lived with the effects of degenerative hearing loss, and she has dealt with the loss of a child. She’s been strong through everything life has ever tossed at her, and through each crisis she has handled herself with dignity and grace.
I may have developed an enjoyment of tech by spending time with my father, but it was through my mother’s example that I learned how to be a better person.
Who was your mom, before she became a mother? Does she know how much she means to you?
I sure hope that my mom does.
Happy Mother’s Day!