Lemons Don't Fall Far From the Tree

Nearly all facets of my personality, both the good and bad, can be traced back to one parent or the other.  Judging by the fact that I’ve been called more, “Little Alan” and less, “Joy Jr.”  throughout my years, it may be safe to say that Dad’s dynamic personality has rubbed off on me a bit more.  No one is born with the ambition to juggle six-hundred plates in the air at one time.  We see and are taught by another persons’ accomplishments and successes, then aspire to be like them.  Even how we choose to spend our time, our passions, I believe are provoked by the people that we look up to.  They open the door for us.

So I’d be lying if I said that I developed a love for writing all on my own.  Much of my aptitude can be attributed to my mother, who is a fantastic writer.  During her time at a community college a professor asked for her permission to publish a short story that she had written for composition class.  It was a memoir about her time spent working at a nursing home.  Believing that the piece was too personal for publication, my Mom declined the offer.  Fortunately she didn’t completely disregarded her talent because she continued to write for her own enjoyment. For example, shes been known to save computer files for me to come across unexpectedly titled things like,“Molly Read Me.” My mom has written about her pregnancies and the birth of Mason and I, memories from our and her own childhood, and even about her father’s painful mental deterioration due to Alzheimer’s disease.  One of her unfinished stories is about a fictional character.  Varying in length they usually finish in a round-about way, much like the endings that I strive for.  In middle and high school my Mom would always proofread my papers and show me ways to make them better. She’d often come up with my topics and draft the first few (or several) sentences before I would eventually get into my own groove. She and her writing have been a great inspiration to me, and I wouldn’t be the writer that I am today if it weren’t for her talent and help at the beginning.  If my readers are lucky maybe someday they’ll log on and see a guest post, “LifesLemonsbyMolly’sMom.”   (Hint hint.)

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