Mommy Project 52: 7 Selfless

Ok, so I am late on this again. I ran out of time yesterday and crashed from exhaustion around 830. So here it is now...

I have had trouble coming up with something to write on this topic. I have thought about mothers, servicemen, teachers, nurses, etc. There are so many that I could list and all are perfect displays of what is selfless. In all of these positions, the person puts other's in front of their own needs. However, trying to find a good example in my own life has turned out harder than I imagined. I am a mother, yet, I often times find that I am also very selfish. Don't get me wrong, I always put my children before myself, but I always feel I am doing a poor job as well. My mother was a nurse, but it is hard for me to look at her as being selfless. There is a lot behind those feelings that I simply cannot go into. Unfortunately, most servicemen that I have known personally have not left much of a good opinion of them, so I can't really go there either. So that has left me wondering, who in my life do I consider to be selfless. After much thought, it finally came to me...my sister.

She was married for 17 years to a soldier. After 17 years, their marriage came to an end due to no fault of her own, but still leaving her with 3 young boys to care for. During that time she was married, she mostly did not work. She spent her days at home teaching her young boys right from wrong. She moved her family numerous times as is often the case with any military family. She was away from her family and left many friends that she had made to move onto the next station. Then after 17 years, it all ended. She was back at home relying on our parents to care for her children while she returned to work. She had no choice in this. She came through all of this though. She was strong and overcame in the face of adversity. Since then, she is out on her own, and has made a wonderful life with a new husband of almost 7 years. She now has 3 wonderful boys and a wonderful stepson. My sister gave her up dreams of becoming a pediatrician for her ex-husband. And although she has talked about going back to school, she is putting her own children through college. Again, she is giving up her dreams so that she can give to her family. She would do it all over again though. And the best thing...she is HAPPY.

I have strived all my life to be like my older sister. This is something I know I will never achieve, but if I can learn one thing from her...selfless. I would like to be more selfless.