Always give it your best

Growing up my Mom always told me  "Shari, you just need to give it your absolute VERY best"..in all situations.
..She would say,  "If you HONESTLY give it your very best, then thats all anybody can ever ask for".

My Mom was a very wise, loving protective Catholic Mother who always put the needs of her Husband and kids first, before her own. Always.
In her own words.. "A Mother has one of the most important, rewarding, scariest jobs in this world, and that's raising a happy, healthy family to be the very best they can be"
I also remember her saying .."A Mother's pride & joy is her family, they are reflection of herself."
I guess I never completely understood what she meant by that one until I became a Mother myself and began to experience some of  life's "full circle moments"  ..some of the same lessons in life she had spent so many years teaching my sisters and myself about being a mother.

But the older I get the more I'm beginning to question if maybe my Mom didn't work too hard or do too much for her family?
Could it be possible that she did so much for my siblings and myself  that we didn't do enough for ourselves..or even worse that we began to take her for granted?
Did she work so hard at giving her absolute best to her Husband and kids that some where along the line she lost herself?
There's no doubt in my mind she loved being a Wife and a Mother, she did take such great pride in her family
but did she miss out on a living HER life to the fullest by always putting others needs before her own?
But most importantly did we (her family) make her feel as important and loved and she did us
did she really know how very much we appreciated all the sacrifices she gave for each of us?


 To this day, I still hear her voice in the back of my head motivating me to always give my very best, especially when it comes to my family.

..If  I am doing even half the job at mothering my kids as my mom did without doing too much (wink wink)
then my I've lived my life successfully to my very best  and hers.