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July 17, 1997 2:49PM EST It's already almost 3 o'clock and I still haven't accomplished much. This seems to be the general way of things each and every day. The time just slides away right under my nose and I don't even notice it. The shadows grow longer and longer and the light softens into afternoon, yet my mind still thinks it is morning. Or wishes it anyway. When I was 4 years old, my heroes were Big Bird & Snuffalupagus, Princess Leia, Bernard & Bianca (of The Rescuers fame), Mary who used to baby sit for me, and my mom. Not all of these heroes have stayed with me, though I still bear undying love for Big Bird, who taught me the alphabet and sang me to sleep from time to time. Mary grew up and got married, a severe shock and source of disillusionment to me, even though I was 12 when it happened. Bernard & Bianca turned back into little mice on a page in a book by the time I was 10 or so. I still admire Princess Leia --hey, I LIKED her hairstyle-- as a gung-ho lady who knew how to boss those sillly boys around without really mussing her 'do (you know that miraculous change of scene when she's all dirty in one shot and pristine in the next). And my mother will always be my hero. She's gotten a little bit less shining over the years, as I've grown and caught up to her and in some ways gone beyond her experience. I no longer look up to her as a shining example on a very high pedestal. She's become human to me and our relationship has gotten richer because of it. We have our disagreements, but I'm proud of my mother, of her strength and determination, of her laughter, of her ability to handle great crises without losing her temper or losing faith in herself and us. I see her faults too, but somehow they pale in the face of everything she has been to me and my brothers and my father over the years. She is truly the heart of our family, and I thank her from the bottom of my heart for being that rock that we could all stand on, the center we could always return to. The one home I have always had, was within the circle of my mother's arms. Wherever you are mommy, that's where home can be. |