Nichol Krupp Photography

My mother should be chosen because she would do anything in the world for me and I would gladly do the same for her! She always makes sure that I get everything done and pretty much everything I want! She once told me how she wrote a letter sort of like this to someone about me and I always wished I could do the same for her! She is, I believe the best mother ever (no offense Nichol!) and the most ahh-mazing person.

She is a crazy blonde who loves life and everyone in her life! She is the one of the most caring and respectful people ever! She goes to work everyday just so I can I have everything that I want. She always helps me with homework and kumon and anything that I don’t understand. She always spends time with me and never goes any where without me! She has even been invited to many adult parties that I always tell her to go to but she never will because I am not able to go with her! She is always trying to spend as much time with me as possible.

She always takes off of work to come see me perform at my orchestra concerts and to come see me dance! I will love her always and forever! My mother should be chosen because she is a single mother who would do anything for me to have a great life and she is my hero! She always makes it ALL about me but, this is ALL and just for her! She gave me a world to believe in and I believe in her! Being a 13 year old with a 10 month old cousin who my mother just adores, my mom takes time out of her life to spend every weekend with us! She’s the reason I take chances and believe, I LOVE MY mother!!

My grandmother was a child of the Great Depression and to this day displays characteristics of that generation. Some of these characteristics have the ability to be charming and annoying at the same time; saving mundane items like pieces of fabric and bowls and boxes and clothes that don’t fit anyone in the family because “you never know when you might need them” and somehow you never really do. My Grandmother was the youngest child in her family and when she was about 3 years old, her mother died. Her father could not raise 5 children by himself and sought help from his wife’s best friend. His wife’s best friend was childless at the time, so she agreed to take in and raise my grandmother. As a result of this unusual arrangement, my grandmother grew up with two families and had in most respects a pretty normal childhood except that she had two fathers, a new mother and eventually two sets of siblings (and had the luxury of being the baby of one family and eventually the oldest child in her adopted family). She was married at 15 and had the first of three daughters soon after. Because of this she didn’t finish high school with her classmates. Her first daughter, my mother, was born just as World War II was beginning and like many other men, my grandfather left to fight the war and didn’t return until my mother was 5 years old. During that time my Grandmother raised her first daughter alone and worked in a factory making military equipment as a “Rosie the Riveter”.

As time progressed she realized that she wanted to finish high school and at the age of 55 years graduated with her high school diploma. My Grandfather by this time was a severe alcoholic and would eventually wind up in a nursing home with numerous health complications including diabetes, Alzheimer’s and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This time in her life must have been very difficult as she struggled to raise three children while having limited financial means and less than healthy circumstances. Once my Grandfather was incapacitated my Grandmother decided she needed to work full-time outside of the home for the first time in her life. She went to a local Community College, took courses and become a certified medical secretary. She worked at the local medical center for over 10 years as a unit secretary until she retired at age 72. As she began to work full-time and become more independent and even began to wear pants in public (which was never allowed when my Grandfather ran the house; another throwback to Depression-era ideals) we began to see a different person; she became out-spoken, opinionated and even began to throw out the occasional curse word (which at first shocked and then delighted my brother and I).

Once she retired she really became busy; she filled her time with volunteering at the hospital, performing hospice work (eventually being named “Volunteer of the Year”), traveling and spending time with her great-grandchildren. At 86 years of age she shows little sign of slowing down. All of the experiences that she has lived through could understandably have resulted in bitterness or unhappiness in many people but she remains as optimistic and upbeat a person as you would ever want to meet. The child-bride that became a repressed housewife married to an alcoholic remains an outgoing, caring, compassionate person who always has a story to tell that somehow finds the positive in life. As I became older and heard these stories of her life I began to realize just how incredible her experiences have been and in stark contrast to my own experiences growing up and in young adulthood; which makes her demeanor and outlook even more admirable.

As I reflect on the life story of my Grandmother I realize how much she has taught me and passed on to me in direct and indirect ways: resilience, persistence, determination, compassion, kindness, forgiveness, a sense of duty, loyalty and a better understanding of who I am and where I came from. These aren’t characteristics we normally think of when asked to define the word “mother”, but these are characteristics that she possesses and I can only hope to pass these examples on to my sons and their children one day. As Mother’s Day approaches it is more apparent to me every year how full and interesting a person my Grandmother is and how thankful I am to be a part of her life.