For the month of January, I’m participating in Bloganuary, a daily blogging challenge.
Today’s prompt:
Who is someone that inspires you and why?
I don’t feel like writing today. I’m sad, I’m lonely, and I’m grieving. I certainly don’t feel inspired.
But, in contemplating the question of who would be able to inspire me today, the first person that comes to mind is my mom.
When she was 10, she lost her left arm to a very aggressive cancer. By the time I came along, my mom had figured out how to live life perfectly fine without it. As with everything in life, we adapt. She told me that I quickly learned how to cling to her, like a monkey, when she rested me on my her hip and carried groceries in from the car.
My brother and I would pretend sometimes that our left arm was unusable, and we would try to tackle our mundane, everyday activities. Most things were frustratingly difficult, although eventually doable. But undoing the button on my jeans, if I had to pee, that was a blatant impossibility.
One of the aspects I admire the most about my mom is that she’s never lost her sense of humor. We like to joke that even though she may not accomplish things on her own, she does everything single-handedly. Or every time I come to visit, she welcomes me with open arm.
To live life, even in the face of adversity and pain, and be able to laugh and love fully, is inspiring. So today, perhaps a bit more than most days, I think of my mom and I’m inspired.
My Memory List 