My mom has been a single mother as far back as memory serves me. With the divorce of my parents when I was a mere four years old, Mom has since worn the dual duty armor of both mother and father in our house. While she guided me through the delicate procedure of polishing my fingernails-
“Momma, momma, can you paint my fingernails?”
”Polish, honey. You paint the side of a barn; you polish fingernails.” – she also taught me how to install a phone jack in the wall. ‘Be a lady who can do for herself’ was her motto.
Mom was always branching out from her role as the traditional woman of the house and venturing into what most would deem “man’s territory.” One could often find her sitting on the back porch, alternating between reading pages out of the latest Cosmopolitan magazine and studying the manuals she had recently received on “How to Drive an 18-Wheeler.” Granted, she was never actually been behind the wheel of a big rig; nonetheless, she would sweep the “Mechanics of 18-Wheelers”category on Jeopardy. She took great pleasure in driving my oldest brother’s 1977 Mustang Cobra II around town and` later adopted the car as her own. As other kids at school were pulling up in their wood-paneled station wagons, imagine how cool my mom was in her sporty little Mustang. Mom was determined not to fit into a set stereotype and taught us each to be the person we wanted to be.
Of course, being both mother and father of the house was not always a cakewalk as Mom not only played the role of nurturer and teacher but also the disciplinarian and moneymaker. You never heard the warning “Wait ‘till your father gets home.” Nope, it was instant punishment in my house. The upside of this tactic was that I rarely if ever got into any trouble. My mom still brags on what a great kid I was. While money was tight, it was never anything to get us down. I remember Mom once cashing in a large butter urn full of coins and treating us to the fair where we rode all the rides two and three times each. She always found a way to make things happen.
Many people lament over children growing up in single parent homes; we have missed out on fundamental two parent family values. I have never felt this way. Mom wore her armor with such skill I never noticed the lack of a father in the house. Moreover, I consider myself a well-rounded person who can think and do for herself, all traits I observed in my mom. While I may not always have perfectly polished nails, I have successfully installed two phone jacks thus far in my lifetime. Thank you, Mom!