"Do Good, Little Lady"

I am not a Mother.  I am a daughter.  So what I am about to say is an opinion as seen through the eyes of child who is now an adult.  So, here goes:

Parents have control of their child's destiny.  Now, obviously, there is some leeway in this situation - as I do not believe that all of the murderers, rapists, and "bad seeds", etc are products of bad parenting, or that, all of the successful children are necessarily the product of good parenting....but ultimately, I believe Parents are key to a child's successful, or I daresay unsuccessful, future.  Clearly, I only have 2 personal examples to plead my case - but - from 27 years of "collecting evidence", I believe it's safe to justify my opinion.  

Let's start with my Mom.  Honestly, I've just always wanted to be like her.  She's beautiful, kind, passionate, loving, friendly, cheerful, strong, supportive - a true Woman's Woman.  She always guided me in the right direction, but never forced me to 'believe' a certain way.  I watched her go to work Every. Single. Day.  and I watched her refuse to call in sick, even when she was sick and even though she had 900 sick days - because that is who she is.  She Loves with every fiber of her being.  She LOVES my Dad.  She LOVES us kids--and most importantly, we all know it.

Then there's my Dad.  Unfortunately, we lost my Dad a few months ago - even as I type, tears are streaming down my face, because he was such a great Dad.  He was intelligent, smart, loving, loyal, kind, gentle.  My Dad had an opinion about Everything, yet when it came to decisions we made in our lives, even if it was a "Sausage" decision (as my dad would call it), he was always supportive.  One thing that sticks out in my mind is how much he loved us.  Every single day of my life I can remember him telling me the exact same phrase before I'd leave the house - whether for grade school, high school, college, or work - he'd ALWAYS say, "I Love You.  Do Good, Little Lady.  Have a Good Day."   I got to hear those words Every. Day.

I don't know about you, but growing up with so much love and having such great examples set before me - All I want to do is make them proud.  I wouldn't say that My brother's and I are the most successful people by the world's standards, but we all work hard, love our family, help people, obey the laws, and overall just enjoy life.  We owe it all to Mom and Dad.  

Justifiably Julie

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