Business fills me up

364 days a year.

But not today.

     She always urged us forward. She spoke so proudly of her two sons for running their own shows…mine and my wife Kathy’s in creative marketing services, my brother’s and his wife Ann’s in insurance.

     She’d sit quietly off to the side and visit for hours in our offices, clutching her pocketbook on her lap, watching and listening and smiling, overcome with pride in what she thought was our humble success…each of us living the kind of life she’d only ever dreamed of    

     Mom never knew the word “entrepreneur,” but she knew that what each of us did, independently, on our own, with our own offices and our own businesses was something special. And she knew it beat working for a huge company as she had, or the government as Dad had.

     Growing up, Dad made our lives possible (though barely, never earning more than $5000 a year, half of which he drank), but Mom was the one who gave our lives meaning. She taught us about helping and taking care of others.

     It was Mom who taught us about reading and writing and laughing and having fun. She also taught us about scrimping and saving and making careful choices in life, about going to church and spending time with family, about being polite and keeping clean, and about how to take out the garbage and tie our shoelaces. And about love and tolerance.

     And all these many years later, though she left us long ago, she lives on in my mind and heart (and I know my brother’s too). If ever there was a heaven, she is surely there bringing still a smile to my face just to pass her impish grinning photo hanging on my stairway wall.

     Thanks Mom for all you gave of yourself to be the best you could be. Happy Mother’s Day to EVERY Mother and to everyone who mothers or has mothered others in their lives. God Bless You All.

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Send your input anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. BACK TO BUSINESS TOMORROW! halalpiar              # # # 

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