Lessons of Love Passed on To Future Generations

On Sunday as I was setting the table for our Mother's Day lunch I couldn't help but think about when we had first come from Cuba - how it had only been the four of us: my parents, my brother and me.

Forty-five years later, my parents also have five grandchildren and one on the way, and a great-grandson.

There was a time when all of our family gatherings were at my parents' house. For some time now we have been getting together in my home; it's now my turn.

So much of the woman I am today has to do with how I was raised; the things I do I learned simply by watching my mother do them for her family.

The way I take care of my husband and my children, and now my grandson, are a product of the wonderful mother I have.

Over the years I have watched my mother fix holiday dinners and celebrate our birthdays. She would make everything seem effortless. Of course, now that I'm the one holding these celebrations in my home I know how much work it is.

My brother and I still come and go from my parents' house just as we did when we were living at home. I'm a frequent drop-in lunch guest. We both know that there is always plenty of food and that we will always be greeted with a hug and kiss.

My son and daughter-in-law both have remotes to our garage and nothing gives me more pleasure than when I hear them walk in the back door.

They, too, know that whenever they drop by they are always welcome. Without realizing it I have created a home like the one I grew up in.

Life lessons are learned through our childhood experiences. They are little drops of love that we receive as children that stay with us forever.

It is not so much what our mothers say to us when we're children that make us become the adult we grow up to be, it's more what they do and how they take care of us that teach us how to be mothers and fathers.

Mothers are the core of a family. Their heart is the language that the whole family learns to speak.

A wonderful mother like the one I've been fortunate to have not only influences the life of her children, but also of generations to come.

When we are children we take for granted all the hugs and kisses that we get, the words of wisdom that surround us on a daily basis and the power of our mother's love. We assume that everyone we know receives these special gifts.

When we become adults some of us realize how precious our childhood has been and how not everyone is as fortunate as those raised in a loving home.

Motherhood takes years of investment before your children realize all the deposits you have made. But when they do, they too will be willing to pass that love on.

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Maria Luisa is a freelance writer, certified parent educator and corporate empowerment consultant with The International Network for Children and Families in Redirecting Children's Behavior, Redirecting for a Cooperative Classroom, and Redirecting Corporate America. Contact her at her Web site at www.redirectingchildrenrgv.org.