sacrifices...

We bought a boat. To take us to paradise and back at the weekends. So I have to make some financial sacrifices. I'm still trying to think of what they can be... I've been thinking for a week now, and I still haven't come up with anything. I'm sure something will come to me soon. The problem is I never buy anything...well apart from the odd dress or pair of heels.  But they're essential right? And, I'm so low maintenance in the 'beauty' department, so that doesn't count... What can I possibly cut back on? Ummm, I'll keep thinking...

Can I swap my shoe addiction for this?

mummy has a life?

If I'm totally honest, it wasn't until I had my own kids that it hit me.  That my mum had a life outside of me.  That she is a person who has hopes and dreams, frustrations and feelings.  Someone who has made sacrifices and denied herself things throughout her life.

When I lived at home, it was an inconvienence if Mum got sick (it didn't happen very often), if she wasn't there for me, it was annoying (because she was always there for me) and if we went out shopping for her, it always ended up being for me.  Mum was just there. She was great. She was the perfect mum.  She was my security rock.  I could never see a time when I wouldn't need her.  But I never thought about her as a person, not really.  It was all about me. I admit it. I totally took my parents foregranted. It makes me cringe now looking back.

Most people harp on about how their mum is their inspiration, best friend, blah, blah, blah. And while that's true in some way for most of us, do we really know who they are and what they have done for us?

It was a strange realisation when it hit me. How selfish I was, and that I knew nothing about my mum as a woman. Her favourite colour, music, flower... her loves and regrets... her life story... 

So I set out to change that and one night last year, we sat together and I scribbed down her life story, and I'm so glad I did because what a life story it is (I could write a novel about my mum's life)...  I want my kids to know her story when they got older, because it is inspiring and colourful and dramatic, but this post isn't about that.

No this post is asking, is this how all kids treat their parents? Will mine do the same to me? But then I am not as selfless as my mum.  I regularly tell my kids that, "It's not always about you, or how you feel". It's that old 'nature' or 'nurture' question again isn't it?

I thought I'd add a nice cheesy picture with this post!