Remembering Some Traits of My Mother Which I Hope to Emulate...

I hope I share many of the traits that were prominent in my mother’s long life because she was a model worthy of many followers.  She was 25 years old when I was born and the photo here is the earliest photo I have of myself with her. 

I’m sure she was very grateful for my healthy birth because she had developed some complications early in her pregnancy.  Her first Doctor told her that she would not carry her pregnancy to term because of her problems.  She was not willing to accept that possibility as she wanted a different outcome.  That is why she decided to get a second opinion from another Doctor whose practice was with a larger hospital forty-five miles from where my parents lived.  The photo below was taken as my parents headed away from their home near Viroqua, WI to see a doctor in La Crosse, WI for a second opinion about Mom’s pregnancy with me.  This drive would be a challenge because it was during the middle of WWII when gas and tires were rationed.

That doctor admitted my mother to the Gundersen-Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse, WI for a week.  She rested, recovered and I arrived weighing 10#3 1/2 oz, 23 inches long on December 7, 1944 - three weeks overdue.   I arrived without much hair so Mom sometimes taped bows to my scalp and people still asked what her little boy's name was!

 This story shows one of my mother's admirable traits.  She was a woman of determination who didn't readily take "no" for an answer.   If she hadn't tried everything she could think of in order to change something that needed changing, she wouldn't rest until those things were tried in order to find out if a different outcome would be the result.  In this case, I am very thankful for her courage and determination.  

I am not certain that I am as courageous as my mother was but I know of at least one incidence in which I did not take "no" for an answer but instead acted with courage and determination.  The year was 1964 and I had just completed my first year of college at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, WI.  My next younger sister had just graduated from high school.  Both of us needed summer jobs to be able to continue with our college educations.  I had learned of other college students that had gotten summer jobs in Estes Park, CO and had made quite a bit of money.  I found a ride for us with a student from UW-Madison to Colorado Springs, CO.  From there we took a Greyhound bus to Estes Park, CO.  We found the employment office and walked in one Tuesday morning in mid June.  We told the folks there we were looking for summer jobs.  The answer we received took us by surprise.  We were told that we were people numbers 95 and 96 to come through the door that day and there were no jobs for any of us.  What were our choices at that point?  Return to the Greyhound bus station and return the 1,200 miles to our farm home or muster our courage and determination to stay with the faith that we would somehow find the two jobs we needed in order to save our Estes Park summer.  I have written the story of our summer in blog posts at It's Time to Share...  Remembering that summer causes me to think that I do share the traits of courage and determination with my mother.   I am pictured below in front of Ranchouse Restaurant in Estes Park, CO in the summer of 1964.

Another trait I hope I share with my mother is the trait which allows a person to rejoice when another person has success in a way that you were never able to experience.  My mother was that person.  My mother did not have the privilege of continuing her education beyond high school.  Just getting through high school was a huge achievement for her.  She completed the eighth grade in the middle of the Depression.  She was one of seven children whose mother had died when my mother was five years old.  There was a struggle to survive for that family and with no way for my mother to get to the nearest high school, she was told girls didn't need further education and so she was told she couldn't go on to school.  That was heart breaking for my mother.  It may be that my mother blamed her step-mother for that choice as there began to be a significant struggle between Mom and her step-mother.  This struggle was such a disruption to the family that one day, Mom's father brought her a card board box.  He told her to put all of her things into that box because she was going to be taken to an Aunt and Uncle's place to live.  Though Mom was devastated at first, she found that much good would come from this move that had not been seen at the beginning.  

Uncle Alfred and Aunt Mable Tryggestad had two high school aged sons.  Both of these boys were attending Viroqua High School near their farm home.  There somehow was transportation for those boys to school.  Though my mother had been out of school for two years, she was welcomed to begin her freshman year at the school her cousins were attending.  She lived with the Aunt and Uncle for one year and then moved to live with another family member where she transferred to La Crosse, WI Central High School.  For the last two years of high school, my mother lived in a Nurses Home which was next door to the Gundersen-Lutheran Hospital where women who worked at the hospital were housed.  

With that employment opportunity at a hospital, my mother fell in love with the career of nursing.  She walked to high school for daytime classes and worked as a nurse's aide in the evening.  Mom is on the left below on her way to Central High 22 blocks away in La Crosse, WI.

Mom graduated from high school in 1939.

Mom was unable to continue further education following high school but she was a strong advocate for each of her five children and our opportunities for education.  Some parents have the attitude that if they couldn't have or do something then their children shouldn't have those opportunities either.  Mom did not share that opinion.  She was never jealous of her children's advantages and achievements beyond what her own experiences had been.  She rejoiced with us and celebrated our successes.  Below Mom and Dad are pictured with my sister, Barbara Drew, as she received her PhD in Nursing.

Mom celebrated with our achievements and grieved with our sadnesses.  This trait that allowed Mom to delight in another's success without being jealous is something I want to be said of me as well.  

Mom also was an encourager.   She was a faithful woman of prayer and Bible Study who blessed her family and friends with her Biblical insights through home Bible Studies, written letters and notes, phone calls and visits.  I aspire to have these things said of me also.  

These are just a few of my mother's positive traits.  She has been a woman that has accomplished much in her life and made life for our family more meaningful and fun.  She also made sure we were made aware of how to know and experience not only her love but also the love and  joy of Jesus Christ's offer of salvation through faith and belief in His sacrifice for our sin.  These are traits which I admired in her and would like to emulate.  Below is a photo of Mom and me as we celebrated her 90th birthday which was six months before she joined my Dad in heaven.