"My mom and I are a lot alike — not just our physical features but our personality quirks as well. And if you ask my husband, he might say that we are too much alike.
"We are borderline obsessive compulsive over things we care about and enjoy, and we like to take 'adventures' while driving in unfamiliar territory (even if it means ending up in the middle of a cornfield). But there's a lot more than that I've gotten from my mother.
Contributed photo |
Kathy Meredith, left, with her daughters Katy Kreider, Brittany Meredith and Blair Patterson.
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"Like many teenage girls, I swore that I would never be like my Mom. I even had a saying that I ripped out of a magazine and framed that said something along the lines of, "You do not have to be your Mother, nor you Mothers-mother ... " But at the age of 15, I found out that Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. That is how I realized how amazing my mom really is.
"Her heart and determination are something that I can only hope to have myself one day. I have watched her struggle with running a household while fighting a recurring cancer for over 15 years now. And she did it all with a smile, her faith never wavering, and never allowing us to see how sick she actually felt, even when all her hair was gone.
"Mom has taught me that with determination and a positive attitude, one can overcome any obstacle that life might throw at us. And also, that only through adversity some of the deeper lessons of life are learned.
"So when I think back at the framed saying that I had many years ago, I see how wrong I was. For if I turn out to be half the woman that my Mom is, I would only be so lucky."
— Katy Kreider, 30, Greenville
