By example

I want to believe I was a certain kind of mother, that I instilled my most precious values in my children while they were growing up. I remember it that way, but I know it is easy to remember things the way people wanted them to be and not necessarily the way they really were. I have seen that in people I know, so where are the answers?

In the eyes of the other people who were there.

Each of my children is his or her own person, but there is an underlying part of them that is the foundation I laid when they were young and I think it is a good one. They are thinkers. They are creative. They are hard workers, proud enough of whatever they do to do their best because it is the right thing to do. They are very child oriented. One of my sons was a stay at home father and the other a home schooling, hands on father.

They are conscious of the environment and ready, willing and able to serve the people of their community.

I worried because my first son had me up on a pedestal when his first child was born. I went to visit and his wife said, "He told me everything would be Kumbaya when you got here." But I was only human. Just a mother. And eventually I fell off that pedestal. 

I am far from perfect.

But today my younger son said, "You taught us what to be and do by example. You taught us to be kind and considerate, to care about the world and people in ways that mattered. I've tried to raise (my son) that way too."

Nothing could have made me feel better.