Mothers come in all shapes and sizes: the best mothers are mentors, friends, healers, confidants, and heroes are rolled into one. Last year, we introduced you to some of the amazing mothers that left a lasting impression on our GrandPad users. Our Mother’s Day series proved to be a smash hit, and we couldn’t wait to revisit this concept and explore what truly moves our users, and what memories of their mothers lasted a lifetime.
Last year, the simple stories of love and grand tales of triumph illustrated one unifying concept: no matter how different each of our moms turns out to be, they all love us in their own way. With Mother’s Day rapidly approaching, we reached out to our loyal users to see what being a mother means to them, and what they’ve learned going from daughter, to mother, to grandmother. Join us as we meet Lilly, a GrandPad user, and the women that have shaped her life.
Lilly is the kind of mother that really enjoys being hands-on with her children. She confesses that she always loved making things for her girls, whether it was a new skirt or a fun toy. She like being involved, and when Lilly was being raised her mother taught her the value of being available to one’s children.
When asked what she enjoys most about being a mom, Lilly laughs and begins to tell a story that illustrates her devotion to the “hands-on” method of mothering. When Lilly was a girl, her mother often sat with her as she did her homework, offering advice or help if Lilly were stuck.
So, when Lilly’s daughter Melody returned home from second grade one afternoon with her first batch of real homework, Lilly knew what to do. But when Lilly sat down next to Melody, the young girl promptly shut her textbook and stared at Lilly. Seeing her mother’s confused expression, Melody defiantly said, “this is my homework. I have to do it!”
Lilly certainly wasn’t ready for her daughter’s headstrong independence, but motherhood often involves acclimating and adjusting. Lilly raves that her daughter is incredibly intelligent and self-motivated. Lilly brags that her daughter would study her Bible every morning, and seemed to know more Bible stories and history than Lilly did herself!
Building from this anecdote, Lilly confides that the most challenging aspect of being a mother is the feeling that “you don’t know anything” or don’t know what you’re doing on a daily basis. The best way to move forward is to accept that you must simply learn as you go. Lilly says that she didn’t approach being a mother as a challenge to overcome, but as an opportunity to teach her children what she knew.
Lilly stresses that fun is also an integral part of childhood: and not the kind of fun that comes from staring at a television screen. She loved taking her kids to the park, and letting them explore the neighborhood. Lilly laments that, with ever-advancing technology, children may end up spending all of their time playing video games and logging hours on social media instead of seeking out the world around them. When asked what children miss when they don’t explore the possibilities around them and stick to the digital screen, Lilly’s response is elegantly straightforward: “they don’t learn other people.”
As is evident, Lilly is a mother that cares so much about her children, and her grandchildren, that she spends little time discussing her own mother or her own childhood. The joys of grandmotherhood radiate from Lilly: she describes how fortunate she is that she can watch after her grandson whenever her daughter Melody worked late hours as a nurse or was finishing up nursing school. She values being able to serve as her daughter’s “little helper” now, being able to give her the undivided attention Melody sometimes rejected as an independent young girl.
With mothers as passionate and caring as Lilly, we all should take the time to invest in their undivided attention as well. Tablets like the GrandPad connect families over vast distances, and make it easy to call and chat with your mothers and grandmothers any time of the day so you can tell them how much you love them. Take a moment this Mother’s Day to create some memories with your own mother that will last a lifetime.
