14 Life Lessons I Learned From My Mother

My mother taught me so many life lessons. She’s an amazing woman, and I can think of a million amazing things I could tell you about her.

But to me, the most amazing thing is she’s always loved me and been there for me – all this time! That’s a pretty big deal, and I’m so grateful every day!

Mom turned 90 this year! (This was written in 2019.) I couldn’t even begin to list all the life lessons she taught me, but I wanted to do something special to celebrate. So I made her a little book of 90 things I learned from her! 90 is a lot, (of years, AND life lessons!) So I’ll just give you a sample – 14 Life Lessons I Learned from My Mom.

One of the things I did NOT learn from my mother was how to take good photographs. (And obviously, I didn’t take all of these!) So please forgive the variations in quality!)

Life Lesson #1

May Day Baskets

Mom always celebrated May Day with flowers, and she showed me how to make little cones to hang on door knobs when I was very young. I loved the ritual of hanging the cones full of flowers, ringing the doorbell, then running away! There was never any question about who had left the flowers, but I learned how much fun it was to surprise someone with something beautiful!

Life Lesson #2

How to Set a Table

We always had nice table settings at our house. (This one actually was nice before we messed it all up!) Placemats and napkins, and the proper silverware, so I learned about table setting early.

For instance, in sixth grade, I had to give a How-To presentation in front of the class. Mom helped me decide on the topic – How to Set a Formal Table – and showed me how to do it! As I’ve said elsewhere, I don’t think my twelve year old colleagues were too impressed, but I loved it! Now I have Mantel and Table, and I owe the original inspiration to my mother!

Life Lesson #3

How to Forage for Flowers and Leaves

My mom was notorious for sending me out into the neighborhood to “borrow” flowers or branches from the neighbors. I realize now that she probably had an agreement with them to snitch a few now and then. But at the time, I always felt like I was getting away with something! I’ll never forget sneaking over to Betty’s and relieving her snowball bush of a couple of its branches. Then I ran back home as fast as I could! Betty and Mom probably laughed over that for ages!

Another time many years later, I came across my mother parked by the side of the road picking wild flowers. She was putting them into buckets of water she had in her trunk! So I guess I came by my flower foraging abilities naturally!

Life Lesson #4

Calmness

When I had my learner’s permit, Mom let me drive part of the way to our family vacation in Idaho. For whatever reason, I thought you weren’t allowed to put on your brakes on the freeway. So as we got closer and closer to the car in front of us, I started to get a little anxious!

I was just about to frantically ask her what I was supposed to do, when she looked over and very calmly said “You can go ahead and put on the brakes now.” Even at the time, I thought that was pretty amazing! Another couple life lessons: stay calm, and put on the brakes!

Life Lesson #5

How to Be At Ease at a Gathering

Whenever Mom went to a gathering of any kind, you could always find her helping out. Serving punch, taking coats, filling trays, handing out programs, cutting turkey. I always thought she was just a helpful person – which she is – but as I got older, I learned that helping out is a great way to avoid being in that uncomfortable situation where you don’t have anything to say!

Instead of just standing around trying to make conversation with people you don’t know, you can have an activity that makes conversation easier and keeps you busy. Not only is it a buffer of sorts, but you really are helping!

Life Lesson #6

Don’t Jump to Conclusions

This is one of the major life lessons Mom taught me when I was 19 or 20, that stuck with me all my life. We worked at the same bank for several years around that time. Even though I worked in the basement print shop and she worked on one of the executive floors, we would run into each other in the elevator every once in a while.

On one elevator ride, I was complaining about some decision that had been handed down from “corporate.” She turned to me and said “I wouldn’t talk like that – you may not know the whole story.” I was chastened at the time, and I still remember it every time I feel like rushing to judgment.

Life Lesson #7

How to Get Older Gracefully

I’m so in awe of my mom! When she realized she wouldn’t be able to live alone very well anymore, she made the decision to move into a beautiful retirement community. When she realized she was having trouble driving, she sold her car to my brother. She makes new friends and stays involved, and is as lovely now as ever! I have wonderful life lessons every day of how to be graceful at any age.

Life Lesson #8

How To Avoid Bumping Into Someone Who’s In Your Way

I’ve been cold most of my life. Therefore, my favorite place to be has always been in front of a heat vent. Especially the heat vent in our kitchen – right where Mom needed to cook. So me sitting there got more and more problematic as I got bigger.

I specifically remember one time in Junior High – when I was almost fully grown – sitting there with my legs sticking out, AND with my dog, while Mom was trying to cook dinner! This was no mean accomplishment, and I don’t ever remember her complaining about it. She just stepped over or around me, or asked me to scooch down so she could get into a drawer. I guess I did learn that lesson, because later in life, I stepped over my boys a lot while I was cooking too!

Life Lesson #9

Dress Up When You Go Downtown

As teenagers, we mostly wore grungy old jeans, but my mom insisted that I look nice when I went downtown. Since I loved to dress up, this was really no problem. But I did learn the life lesson of how important it is to dress appropriately!

Life Lesson #10

How to Enjoy Christmas

My Mom loves Christmas! And she always made it so special for us. From letting us decorate the tree (even though we couldn’t put the tinsel on right,) to singing carols, stuffing our stockings full of fun things, and having lots of boxes for us to unwrap. Christmas was always a wonderful season, and because of Mom’s example, I love being Santa now too!

Life Lesson #11

Shoes Are Fun

My mother had the most amazing collection of shoes I’ve ever seen in a real person’s closet. Even to this day! The floor of her double closet was completely full of shoe boxes. She stacked those boxes two or three high at the back! And what shoes! I loved the high heels best. Especially the pointy toed, multi-jewel-toned, 3 inch pumps that she only wore on the fanciest occasions.

Any time she’d let me, I would sit actually inside the closet and just look at them all. Even when they were way too big for me, playing dress-up was particularly fun in high heels. As you can imagine, my love of shoes has only gotten stronger over the years. I don’t know that I’ll ever have a collection to rival hers, but I can try!

Life Lesson #12

Bracelets Are Useful (and Comforting)

My mother wore – and still wears – bangle bracelets. As a kid, I loved the sound of them. Not only because I knew that sound meant my mother was around, and that was very comforting, but because I could always find her in the store! If I was lost, all I had to do was listen for the jingle!

When she got some new gold bangles, I inherited the silver ones I remembered from my childhood. I still love the sound of them, plus they remind me of my mother every day!

Life Lesson #13

Don’t Grow Up Too Fast

Mom always told me not to grow up too fast – to enjoy each year. And I did. For instance, I played Barbies lots longer than most of my friends. By the time I turned 17, we all had boyfriends already. But I threw an all-girls, game-playing, fun-having birthday party! We had a blast and everyone was so happy not to have to worry about being cool around the guys!

Life Lesson #14

How To Be A Great Person

My mom is a wonderful person! Everyone who knows her, loves her! My friends ask about her all the time – even people who have never met her in person. The first year that Mom didn’t come to our Fall party, I made a paper cutout of her and taped it to a stick, so she could still share the party with us!

Our guests loved it, and they look for “Mom” each time they come over. That little cutout is a regular at parties now, and it always leads to Mom Stories. So our friends feel like they know her. And in telling those stories, I learn over and over again all these life lessons from a truly great person!

Thanks Mom! I Love You!

Rest in Peace 21 JUNE 2020

The Life Lessons Book

I made an actual physical book for my Mom’s present. Using a Power Point template, I formatted one life lesson or one photo per page. Then I printed them out on glossy paper and had them spiral bound.

If you’d like to make a Tribute or Memory book for someone special, and don’t have access to a spiral binding machine, you can just 3-hole punch the pages. Then they’ll fit easily into a 3 ring binder. There are several nice ones below.

Or you can hand write and put photos directly onto the pages, in old fashioned scrapbook style. I put some of each binder type, plus silky paper, hole punch, and markers in the shopping section below.

I also found a ProClick kit. You can print on the pre-punched pages, then use the hinged binding. I’ve used the binding before, but never tried the kit. If you do, let me know what you think.

———- Shop the Life Lessons Post ———-

Click on the pictures for links to pieces you can use for a memory book.  If the exact item isn’t available any more, I chose a similar option.

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