Lessons from PBJ

Like many little girls, I grew up on PBJ’s. Unlike many little girls, my peanut butter sandwiches always metamorphosed into something more. It was not uncommon to hear my mother announce the shape of the day as we sat on a blanket, eating our picnic lunch in the backyard.

“Look! Mine is a dog!”

It was like watching the clouds changing shapes in the sky. Our sandwiches were always changing into some other form: a dinosaur, a mountain, the state of Alaska. We would sip Kool-Aid out of little red-handled cups, sitting in the grass, enjoying the sunshine.

Years later, I recall the experience and I am filled with nostalgia as I realize my mother was always teaching us how to see a new shape and take on a new form. She is still at work.

I appreciate that she started teaching me life’s lessons in my early childhood. After failing miserably at my attempt to be athletic in T-ball, on the last-place Lavender team, she cheered for me. I learned that winning wasn’t everything.

When I turned twelve she shifted the responsibility of all my laundry needs over to. . . me. At age fourteen, as far as expendable income goes, she basically cut me off. I got a paper-route and had to pay for my own activities and any clothing that exceeded my parents’ budget. When I started dating, it was all funded by my fast-food paycheck. Through these experiences I learned self-reliance and money management.

I was hating life when the carpool was honking and I still had to wait for the whole family to kneel in prayer; however, there was rarely a day I left out the front door without my mother making sure I was prayed for. I learned that God answers prayers.

Although my parents didn’t have a lot of money, they invested in a secondhand, upright piano. I started piano lessons and then went on to pay for my schooling with vocal scholarships. I learned that working hard and developing talents can pay off.

As I started college, my life lessons began to change. I will always remember that empty, alone feeling as my parents drove away the day I moved in. That was the day I realized I needed my mom.

It was phone conversations with my mother that helped me through my first homesickness. Her sage advice was, “Give it three months, then it will start to feel like home.” It’s worked every move since.

Through heartbreak and boyfriends, there was always the sound words, “You are worth more than that. Keep waiting; you’ll find what you are looking for.”

Fast forward a few more years to the newlywed stage. Both my husband and I were college students, applying the independence we’d been raised to acquire. We had to make the choice between paying for a dental check-up and going on a family vacation. When Mom found out, she offered to pay for the dental check-up so we could go on the family trip. I was so surprised! My whole life she’d taught me to earn my own way. I was deeply touched as I realized, I had learned the lessons she was trying to teach me and she was proud of me.

When I brought my precious first newborn home from the hospital and suddenly realized there was no manual or instruction booklet, no nurse or doctor to answer my questions, my panic again led me to my mother. “What is he doing? Is this normal? How do I. . .?” My mother was beside me.

Our family moved far from home. When life’s journeys led us back, my mom took work off, flew down to Texas, and helped me pack and move my family across several states. How grateful I was for her energy when I was lacking my own, packing and cleaning at two months pregnant. Once again, she had my back.

Today, living less than a mile away, my mother comes to my house once a week and watches my younger kids so that I can volunteer at the school. She knows how much I enjoy being in the classroom. She still wants me to enjoy life and pursue worthwhile endeavors.

When I think of those PBJ’s and my mother’s ability to see the shapes they could become, I see how her vision for me over the years has fashioned me into the person that I am. All the little ‘bites’ she took to sculpture her sandwich are not unlike the actions she took in my life to lead and direct me.

My mother taught me the lessons she could in my childhood and now stands to love me, be a friend, and support me whenever she can. I realize she will always be my mother. That yearning a mother has, to be a part of her child’s life, will always exist.

I am grateful for the role she still plays in my life. I am grateful to have a deliberate mother. I’m thankful she is always a few steps ahead of me, to answer my questions and share her wisdom.

Mother’s Day can be a difficult time for women who have lost mothers through strained relationships or death. To these women I would add: this cycle of motherhood doesn’t begin or end with your mother. As mothers, we all learn together and support each other as we face the challenges motherhood presents. We are all mothers and nurturers to each other.

This Mother’s Day, determine the mother you want to be, then shape and mold yourself as you nurture and love the children God has blessed you with.

Question: What life lessons did your mother teach you? How are you teaching them to your children?

Challenge: Think of one specific lesson you learned from your mother and thank her for it on Mother’s Day.

Photos courtesy of Elsje Denison

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About Elsje Denison

Elsje, a born-and-raised Utahn, loves her desert mountains. She is married to her best friend and is enjoying life's adventures with their three sons and a princess. She thanks God for his grace in allowing her the title of “mother.” They have lived in Maryland, Texas, and Utah. These moves fed her addictions for traveling and history. Besides being mama, Elsje enjoys teaching music at preschool and in her vocal studio. Any magical leisure time is spent reading, writing, running, hiking, and basking in the sunshine.