We call her Queen L, in my house. The matriarch of the family, my mother is a powerful, headstrong, incredibly loving individual with a striking resemblance to a young Queen Elizabeth. She carries herself respectfully and thoughtfully and will not take any nonsense from anyone. All part of the job of being mom, I think. She surrounded my sister and me with strong role models our entire lives, men and women who loved us more than words and worked harder than anyone I else of which I can think. And throughout the clicks of the hands of time, somehow I grew up and became a person shaped in my mother’s example. Each day, I realize I’ve absorbed more of her lessons than I realized before, and I’ve benefitted from her harshest ones the most. So here, I share the five most important lessons I’ve learned from Queen L.
1. If you’re not going to do your best, don’t bother doing it at all. In a world when so many things are outside of our control, when you have a task you can control, do it. My abilities are to be used to the fullest extent, and recognized as something that not everyone has. There is not an excuse in the world that is applicable when I do less than my very best, when someone, somewhere else, in a different situation, would do anything to have the ability to complete the task at hand. Whether it’s simply doing my household chores, or it’s something I have to get done before I leave for work, cutting corners isn’t ever something I should even consider doing. (I’m working more on this one currently.)
2. Spend money on REAL ingredients. Recipes are optional. A “dash” of this, and “some” of that will suffice, but your body will appreciate the money you spent to buy quality ingredients later on in life. There are too many chemicals in today’s world.
3. You’re going to have to do things you don’t want to do, for possibly long lengths of time, and you can’t let it get you down. Life can be full of amazing moments, but it can also be full of challenges that we must face. Accept it, do your best, treat it as a learning experience, do it for as long as you need to do, and then on you move. It can’t be avoided, it can’t be skipped over, it’s a part of life.
4. Always polish your shoes and iron your clothes. It helps if you prepare these in advance, or there might be a lot of early mornings in your future.
5. Everything is always better in the morning. She’s said that to me multiple times throughout my life, whether I was stressing out over school, sick, crying over a lost love, frustrated at the world, or anything. And it’s true, everything IS always better in the morning, you just have to be willing to wait that long.
Queen L has taught me a lot about love, life, hard work, resiliance and laughter. For all those things and more, I’m happy to have Her Majesty reigning beautifully (and loudly) from my conscience every day. I sure wouldn’t be the gal I am today without the unwavering love and incredibly high expectations given to me by my mom, so I’ll try to keep these lessons, and all of the life lessons she’s shared, with me every day.