My mother has incredible strength. She has been by the side of her husband, mother, father, best friend, and numerous others while they were in their final days. She took care of them all. Day in and day out she was by their sides caring for them. I don't know how she does it. I don't know how she remained so strong during the toughest times and still has continued to remain strong. I admire her strength and can only hope that someday I will inherit that quality.
I strive to not become like her when it comes to her lack of direction, non existent cooking skills, and her refusal to recycle anything (it's too much of a hassle to separate the garbage
).
Heh, your mother and mine sound alike, at least in the strength part and the refusal to recycle (the law has forced her into it, though, lol). My mom is an awesome cook!
I think my mom and I are alike in many ways: compassion for others, strength in tough situations, trying to maintain sunny dispositions in the face of not-so-great circumstances, as in trying to make the best of things, etc., and domestic talents like cooking, baking, sewing, knitting and the like. My dad even remarked about how my Christmas tree-decorating looked to have mother's touch.
On the other hand, I unfortunately have some of my biological father's not-so-great traits, such as impatience, stubbornness and a sometimes maddening independent streak (well, maddening to my family, haha). He also can be very blunt, as can I, so it has been a struggle over the years to learn to keep my trap shut in certain situations when my opinion has not been sought, or even when it has been sought.
My dad's not all bad, though.
I inherited his curiosity and his love of music (he's a huge jazz fan). He is a voracious reader and loves learning, even though he didn't finish high school, and he is very smart. I think I get my lust for travel and the outdoors from him as well, though we didn't go that far. He enjoyed hopping in the car for long drives, even if it was just to the park for a picnic or to visit relatives. We learned a lot about each other on those drives. It's where I picked up my love of listening to baseball on the radio. If there was/is a game on the radio, he was/is listening. He doesn't drive much now because he has really bad eyesight, but he still listens to the radio a ton.