You only have one Mom. I am writing this post as a reflection while I am taking a few days off of work to be with my mother while she recovers from hip replacement surgery. She is currently with her physical therapist going through stretches and muscle building exercises, doing everything she can to improve. This is the third time I have come home to help my mom recover from a joint replacement surgery. She has now had two total knee replacements, one shoulder, and now one hip totally replaced. This woman is a goddess, a half metal, Terminator-style goddess, but a goddess nonetheless. It doesn’t matter to me how much of her is made of metal, or if she ends up just being a floating brain with a robot body a la Krang from TMNT, she will always be my mother and I will always love her. After all, you only have one Mom.

Today I changed the dressing on her hip incision. To do so I had to see parts of my Moms body that I haven’t seen since I was a child. She was a bit embarrassed to have my help in this way, I can tell because she joked about “scarring you for life”. In her own way in her own humor she makes it a bit easier for her to bear this necessity. For me, being there for my Mom is important no matter what she needs from me, and I am not in the least embarrassed to see her at her weakest and most needy. My brother, sister, and I will help my Mother become self-sufficient again and will happily learn to accommodate her in the future as her needs grow. After all, you only have one Mom.

I am a product of my mother. My humor, my shoe size, my height, my intellect, and my insufferable ways of being totally awesome, I get them all from my Mother. I am a reflection of the way she brought me up, to be ready with a witty line and to laugh with others. I am a reflection of the way she brought me up, to be ready to lend a helping hand to those struggling with burden. I am a reflection of the way she brought me up to, to be hard working and determined to accomplish my goals. All of my greatest attributes I get from my mother. For that I thank her. After all, you only have one Mom.