The Mama and the Papa!

My parents are completly awesome people!! Although we may not see eye to eye all the time, my parents were pretty down to earth..cool people altough I would never admit it. There are a few things in my life that I can pin point to my mom.
1. My mom taught me the art of pulling weeds. Most of the time when I was asked to do something I would do everything possible to get out of it, and it worked most of the time, but when it didn't work, my mom would go out and pull weeds with me and we would just talk about things. It was really nice.
2. My mom taught me that we(the children) were one of her greatest accomplishments. I remember times that we would go to the store and my mom would be looking at a dress or shirt or something, and she would carry it around in the cart for awhile and then when we...well I, would ask for something, she would put her stuff back so that I could get what I wanted.
3. My mom taught me that regardless of what I think, she knew EVERYTHING. I wasn't the best child(I know...shocking!!!)and I would do stupid things like try to sneak out to a school dance when I wasn't allowed...but I was dumb and left notes in my backpack and packed my dress in my backpack, which my mom went through everyday!! And then I would try to sneak out and lie about it, but mom knew everything.
4. My mom taught me the importance of family. I remember when I was younger that my mom was always home when we got home from school, and she usually had a snack waiting for us. And then as we got older and she didn't need to be home with us, she stocked us our own "snack" cabinet. It was awesome!
These are just a few reasons that I am grateful for my mom!!! I know it wasn't always easy for her. I admit it I was a HORRIBLE child, and I did horrible things, more so to my mom than my dad. Sometimes I was so awful to my mom that if she punished me...she may have killed me, so she would just make me sit in a chair until my dad got home and he could deal with me(which was so NOT fair..I got in trouble, but when the boys had to wait for dad, his punishment for them was ice-cream and telling them not to do it again).
There are somethings that my dad taught me though....that I can point to my dad and the wonderful person that he is.
1. My dad taught me how to do dishes. Again, I wasn't the best child, or the smartest!! I would get in trouble, and my dad would give me dishes for the night, and I would say stupid things like "why don't you just make it a week" and so on and so forth. Well, daddy being the nice person that he is...let me keep doing dishes for 3 months because I so badly wanted to do them.
2. My dad taught me something else that I am grateful for. He taught me that even though his eyes are closed... he was still awake and could still watch TV. I would think that my dad was sleeping and think that I was tricky and ask my dad for money...and he would talk "in his sleep" and say "Sure honey...when you get a job!!"
3. My dad also taught me that I wouldn't always get what I wanted. The older I got, I think the worse I got. I admit that I would antagonize my siblings and they would pick on me...and of course I would yell for daddy. Well...it seems the dumber I got the smarter my dad got. By the time I was 14 my dad had caught on and would either ignore me, or he would say "Ryan wouldn't beat on you if you wouldn't say things to him" or things like that!
4. My dad taught me that it was a privledge to have a door. I was famous for slamming my door and I guess one day my dad got tired of it and took my door off the hinges. So of course I pretended like I didn't care and then I got out of the shower...and it was really hard to get dressed. So my dad...being the funny man that he is, set my door up against the frame so I could get dressed. Well I guess one day I forgot about my door and tried to slam it and it fell, and scared the crap out of me. I didn't stop slamming my door, but I did learn it was a privledge to have one!!
But both of my parents have been awesome and have taught me together how to be a lady, how to earn money, and that some things just aren't worth making a big deal out of. I think that the thing that made me the most mad, was shortly after Matt and I got married. Matt and I got in a fight and I went to my parents house. Of course I slammed the door so everyone knew I was there and to pay attention to me. I sat on the couch and started pouting. My parents came in and asked me what was wrong, and all I said was "I don't believe in happy families. And my parents both said "ok." Well let me tell you I was so mad that they didn't want to hear what happened that I forgot why I was mad and left, but that day they did teach me that I was an adult and I was married and that they didn't want to hear the details, but they have always shown me that they love me and that they would be there for me.