My Mom Is My Best Friend

My mom has taught me many lessons throughout life. Obviously when I was a young child she taught me the basics of life. However, as I got older many of the lessons that I learned from her were not “taught” per se but more of observations on my part…observations on how I should live my life in order to be a good person.

Before I get onto these lessons I will take care of the administrivia…
First you will notice that this site still has not become the social networking site that I had promised. I’m sure you can all forgive me as I spend my days and evenings spending as much time as possible with my mother. Also, I am still accepting submissions for a tattoo that honors my mother. I want a heart, perhaps the word “mom”, and any design that would look good incorporated into it. Placement will be on the heart of course. Send them to contest@MyMomIsMyBestFriend.com.

Now…what are the best lessons that my mother has taught me? The few that I can think of right now as I sit in hospice with my mother are as follows.

1. Enjoy what you have. It doesn’t make any sense pining for something you don’t have. If you’ve got a bowl of soup, enjoy it for the nourishment it is and stop complaining that you don’t have a steak.
2. Be happy. Sounds simple. It IS simple. It’s even easier when you smile a lot. Being an angry person is just a waste of energy and not a pleasant thing for anyone around you.
3. Don’t worry about things. This one can be tricky, but it makes sense. I mean, I could sit here and worry about this and that but it’s just a drain on the energy and it really doesn’t get you anywhere.
4. Enjoy and don’t worry. A hybrid of #1 and #3. Since hearing about the cancer that took hold of my mother back in July I could have done one of two things. First, I could have worried, cried, lamented, and been miserable about the news. Or, in a better way to live life I can enjoy the time that I have with my mom. I can always cry later but right now it’s all about spending time with my mom. I’m pretty sure I’d be mad at myself if I had wasted the past two months crying and feeling sorry for myself rather than enjoying time with my mom.
5. Follow your passions. If it makes you happy, go for it. If you truly want to do it, you can find a way.
6. Love and be loved. My mom has shown me what the power of love can do. You feel it. See it. It carries you through the tough times. It makes the good times even better.

There is more…much more. For now though, I will take these lessons with me throughout my whole life. Yes, I would have loved to have my mom remind me of these things as I talk to her years from now but that simply cannot happen. However, these are things that I will never forget. My mom is my north star…and even as the light from her star shall dim from her passing, she will always guide me through life. Thank you Mom…I love you.

ps – Many of the other lessons, views on life, ponderings on passions and so forth can also be seen at www.WaxPorhetoric.com.

My time is quite limited as I’m stretched in a few directions right now with my mom being an obvious one. Yet, going to visit her and do things with and for her does not seem like a chore or drain me at all. In fact I feel a bit rejuvenated when I get there. Yeah, the situation really sucks but she’s handling it quite well.

I just sent an email off to a friend (we call him the Egg Man) and he had asked how she was doing. I sent the following…and realized just what an inspiration this woman is. I almost wish she was a famous woman so that she’d be more in the limelight and people all over the world could see what an inspiration she is as she continues on with life. I couldn’t be prouder to have her as my mother.

email excerpt

I haven’t talked to Ma Chia yet today. She got nailed yesterday by the pain. It snuck up on her and grabbed her quick. She had already taken the morphine two hours earlier so we couldn’t give her anymore. Luckily we were able to give her an anti-anxiety drug that helped her focus on getting rid of it and then she did. And then in true Ma Chia fashion she was was like “There! Got that little fucker” (she calls the cancer “Ibu-monster”…she was taking soooo much ibuprofin early on before she got diagnosed). Then the rest of the night she’d be laughing and joking and being herself (aside from a couple times she’d just kind of nod off).

So yeah, she’s doing well. The pain sneaks up every now and then but she treats it as a “damn, here’s the pain” and then carries on when it’s gone.

Let this be an inspiration to us all. No matter what challenges we are faced with, we have a choice in how we can deal with it. We can do it with dignity or not, we can enjoy life or we can complain about it. Rock on Mom, rock on.

It’s been fun watching my mom in action over the past week and a half in the hospital. I’m obviously biased and think my mom rocks but it’s especially cool seeing other people embrace my mother and take her under their wings.

My mom is a bit sassy to say the least. I get a lot of my traits from her…a bit of sarcasm, quick wit, kindness, and the ability to laugh at myself. Despite the pain of the cancer and the annoyance of all the drugs (she absolutely hates being all doped up and not being 100% coherent) she’s still making semi-crass comments, laughing, and taking this all in stride.

As you can imagine, we’ve seen over a dozen nurses and techs over this time, as well as the surgeon, a few oncologists, and a couple other random doctors. It’s been quite clear to us (“us” being myself and my two aunts who are here) that my mom has become their “pet project”. The doctors are quite wonderful and are laying the smack down with various labs or other doctors if my mother has to sit around too long waiting for a procedure. The nurses seem to enjoy coming in to see this usually lively patient of theirs. It just makes me so very happy to see that even in a time of shock and yuckiness (I know…so eloquent, eh?) that she can keep her wit and continue to positively influence those around her.

Yet another reason my mom is my best friend…you can’t help liking her. She’s got me under her spell just like everyone else. *smile*

Tell us a good story of how your mother wows all those that are around her.

side note – I just realized this would be one of those “it’s good to stay positive and be a good person” stories that are usually featured in Wax Porhetoric. If you need more positive affirmations head on over there and ponder the goodness of life.

A bit after I finished my Top 10 list I was sittin’ here chattin’ with my mother. Have I mentioned she’s one of my best friends? Anyway…I showed her that and then we were talking about this pesky cancer thing inside her and that we just gotta find a way to get rid of it. After that we moved on to the list and I pulled up the page to show her and hopefully put a smile on her face as I let her know in yet another way that I appreciate her very very much and that I definitely approved of how she raised me.

All this led to a great discussion and me thanking her again and again. One really cool thing that I took from my mother’s teachings was a “you can do it” attitude. It goes well beyond the happy cheery “you can do anything you want baby” attitude…it extends to “do what it takes to get it done”. This all stretches to “well if you don’t know how to do it, go ahead and learn and then you can do it”. Armed with this knowledge I could go through life and never worry about saying “I don’t know how to do that” or “I can’t do that”. The only time you’d hear “I can’t do that” is if “now” was attached to the end of it but then that would usually be followed by “but I’ll figure it out”.

Thank you mom.
Yet another reason you are my best friend.

What super life lesson has your mother taught you? Please…share with us all and show your appreciation for your rockin’ mother.

This is a list of the top 10 reasons I think my mom rocks and why she is one of my best friends. These are in no particular order and there are MUCH more than 10 reasons why I think such…but Top 10 lists are the cool thing to do so I did the first ten that popped in my head.

1. My mom has always supported me, even when I flip-flop on the same issue.
2. My mom has taught me a LOT about life and what it’s all about.
3. My mom has always encouraged me to follow my passions.
4. My mom makes a pretty good drinking partner (really, she does).
5. My mom taught me good study habits as a kid that helped me throughout life.
6. My mom is brutally honest…what more can you ask for from a best friend?
7. I can always be myself around my mom. Such a great way to live life.
8. My mom has a great sense of humor and has taught me the value of laughing in life
9. My mom raised me right (at least I think so and others have said the same)
10. My mom is the one I always call first when I have either good or bad news. I’d say that’s the sign of a best friend!

So those are just ten of the reasons my mom is one of my best friends. She set me up to be a good person and then she became my best friend. What are your top ten reasons as to why your mom is your best friend?

Hello everyone, and welcome to “My Mom Is My Best Friend”, a site dedicated to the best mothers out there. My mother truly is my best friend. She has raised me into what I like to believe is a fine young man and over the years has gone from the role of loving and caring upbringer of a child to the loving and caring mother and best friend to me.

Just recently my mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Truly a crappy shock to us all. However, this site is not going to be a boo-hoo site but rather a site to celebrate the best mothers who have touched us all.

Look at this picture below. Ah yes…that is my mother shoving food in my face around the 4th of July a couple years ago. Yup…that’s the face of a happy boy and a mother who loves him. Laughter abound, you can see why she is my best friend.

A loving mother feeds her son

This is a trying time as we deal with the emotions of hearing such devastating news. But again, it wouldn’t be devastating if my mother wasn’t such an incredible woman. She has touched the lives of many and many are coming to town to show her just how much she is loved.

I will post updates on the progress of this most remarkable woman. Updates on the medical treatments (chemo and radiology and surgery…oh yay!) and of the whole body and life changes that will help rid her body of that nuisance. We’ve got some good doctors here at the hospital and we have also been in touch with the Kushi Institute (thank you Benke for this suggestion) for more healing ways.

If you’ve got a great mother, don’t wait until a bad time (ie, some sickness or other not-so-great event) to say “hey Mom, you rock”. I’m glad that my mom rocked enough for me to feel the urge to tell her on a fairly constant basis that she rocks and that I’m glad she raised me the way she did. Let this be a reminder to us all to say “you’re my best friend”.