INSPIRATIONAL STORY (I Had The Meanest Mother In The World)

I had the meanest mother in the whole world. While other kids ate candy for breakfast, I had to have cereal, eggs or toast. When others had cokes and candy for lunch, I had to eat a sandwich. As you can guess, my supper was different than the other kids' also.

But at least I wasn't alone in my sufferings. I had other siblings who had the same mother as I did.

 My mother insisted on knowing where we were at ALL TIMES! You'd think we were on a chain gang. She HAD to know who our friends were and where we were going. She insisted if we said we'd be gone an hour, that we be gone one hour or less --- NOT one hour and one minute.  I am nearly ashamed to admit it, but she actually spanked us. Not once, but each time we had a mind of our own and did as we pleased. Can you imagine someone actually spanking a child just because they disobeyed? Now you can begin to see how mean she really was.

We had to wear clean clothes and take a bath. Other kids would insult and make fun of us because she made our clothes herself, just to save money. Why, oh why, did we have to have a mother who made us feel different from our friends?

The worst is yet to come. We had to be in bed by nine every night and up at eight the next morning. We couldn't sleep until noon like our friends. So while they slept, my mother actually had the nerve to break the child-labor law. She made us work! We had to wash dishes, make our beds, learn to cook and all sorts of cruel things. I believe she laid awake at night thinking up mean things to do to us.

She always insisted upon us telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, even if it killed us --- and it nearly did!

By the time we were teen-agers, she was much wiser and our life became even more unbearable. None of this tooting the horn of a car for us to come running. She embarrassed us to no end by making our dates and friends come to the door to get us. If I spent the night with a girlfirend, can you imagine she checked on me to see if I were REALLY THERE! I never had the chance to elope to Mexico. That is, if I had a boyfriend to elope with. I forgot to mention, while my friends were dating at the mature age of 12 or 13, my old fashioned mother refused to let me date until the age of 15 and 16. Fifteen, that is, if I dated only to go to a school function. And that was maybe twice a year.

Through the years, things didn't improve a bit. We COULD NOT lie in bed, "sick" like our friends did, and miss school. If we weren't running a high fever.. we HAD to go to school! Our marks in school HAD to be up to par. Our friends' report cards had beautiful colors on them, black for passing, red for failing. My mother being as different as she was, would settle for nothing less than ugly black marks.

As the years rolled by, first one and then the other of us was put to shame. We HAD to graduate from high school. Our mother was always behind us talking and demanding respect so none of us children were allowed the pleasure of dropping out of school.

My mother was a complete failure as a mother. Out of four children, a couple of us attained a higher education. NONE of us have EVER been arrested or have wanted to drink or do drugs.
And who do we have to blame for the terrible way we turned out? You're right!!! Our mean mother.

She forced us to grow up into God-fearing, educated, honest adults. Using this as a background, I am TRYING to raise my children. I stand a little taller and I am filled with pride when my children call me mean.

Because, you see, I THNK GOD, He gave me the meanest mother in the whole world.