When I arrived into this world my Mom did a lot of praying. This may have set the tone for her motherhood. I was her first child and she was dealing with a 50% chance of me not surviving an 8 week early arrival. I fit into the palm of her hand at 3 ish pounds and lived at the hospital for the first few months of my life.

After a rocky start and beating the odds of survival I was the first grandchild among my Mom’s siblings. She was truly pioneering with me all the way through.. and I think she did a pretty good job given how much she was figuring out on the fly.

The first few years of my life was pretty nomadic and then our family decided to settle on a small farm near Treesbank MB. I remember my Mom growing a lot of plants. She had a big plant room in the house with a lot of flower beds outside. The garden was a massive area that included all our potatoes, carrots, peas, beans, corn and probably other stuff for a whole year of produce. The garden was a big part of her life when I was growing up.

My Mom had a huge spiritual heart for her neighbours and hosted friendship Bible coffees with a lot of the unchurched Moms in our area. This continued into our Brandon years and even when she moved to Calgary after I left home.

I don’t have a lot of memories of my mom actually and I’m not sure why. I do remember that every week or two she would pack up the kids and drive the 45 minutes to Brandon where we would run errands and pick up groceries. It was usually a full day with multiple kids at her side.

Mom was the one that drove me to birthday parties, school concerts, piano lessons and all the other things that kids need to be driven to. Dad worked long hours every day when I was growing up. Any parenting that needed to happen must have come from my Mom. I spent a lot of time outside exploring our forrest and I did a lot of walking or riding my bike all around the countryside. It seems to me that my Mom was surprisingly hands off in my growing up years but I’m not sure if that is because I just remember being independent or if I’m not remembering right.

It might be time for me to have a heart to heart with my Mom about my childhood to fill in some gaps. Hopefully she can remember better than I can.