Voices Carry

I attended the funeral for a friend's mother yesterday. I was so moved by the deep love her children had for her. The stories were tender and funny as they shared personal events. Although the mother was described as being gentle, she was also a firm teacher. She didn't yell, she had humor and kindness. As I listened, I was not , as is typical of myself, let down that I would never be that kind of mom. Instead, I thought, "I could stop yelling. I could be that moderate mom who teaches by example. Heck, my kids are young enough they probably won't even remember me yelling if I stop right now!" As the dream was building in my head, I didn't feel disheartened. I felt uplifted; excited for change. My daydream stopped as my seven-year-old tugged on my sleeve. "Mom, you could probably work on the yelling."

So, honesty apparently runs in my family. But, it has been one whole day and I am going to at least work on making the spaces between yelling longer!