To My Mother.. (part 1)

Recently I was asked to write about a project I enjoyed working on. Fortunately, I thought of a few projects. However, there was one project in particular that stood out the most. My junior year of high school, Mrs. Mahr had the class work on a Virtue's project. Students had a choice to present however they would like, as long as it followed the guidelines and was "memorable." Constituting a project on it being memorable was very difficult for me. I continuously asked myself who or what in my life is memorable. Ultimately, I collected my thoughts and decided to build my project based on my mother; after all, she is the one who has given me guidance in life.
Thus, I went to Michaels and bought a scrapbook, patterned paper, and 3-D stickers, hoping these materials would suffice as memorable. Assembling the scrapbook wasn't hard at all. The difficult part was filling those pages with words describing my mother, and how her virtues are now my own virtues. The following are the first 2 virtues from the scrapbook I made, titled "To My Mother.." Enjoy.

Key #1 Openness:

The quality of being willing to accept new ideas or people.

There are two bodies of water one visits in their lifetime. The first one, and most commonly visited, is a swimming pool. The second, is the ocean. These bodies of water are made up of the same substance. Yet, although sharing similarities, they are both extremely different. A pool is enclosed by concrete walls. It is explored only by those who are nearby and stays in one place; therefore, it is the opposite of openness. The ocean is the definition of openness. The ocean covers so much of the earth’s surface and has a variety of ethnicities plunge into its water. The ocean has seen much of the earth and is wise and strong. My mother is my ocean and has taught me how to accept anyone and their ideas. She has taught me how to keep my mind open and my heart available for new experiences, new ideas, new relationships. She has taught me how to work to move beyond the boundaries of the familiar and break down the walls of comfortability. With letting yourself be open, you let yourself be molded each and every time you let someone in. That’s why I thought keys were best to represent these 10 virtues because you need a key to open new doors and these “new doors” are my virtues. However, it may be risky so you must have courage.

Key #2 Courage:

Staying strong in the face of pain or grief.

Freshman year of High School my grandpa, or as I refer to him, my Papa, was diagnosed with cancer. For a long time my grandpa was in and out of hospitals. He couldn't walk and refused to eat his meals. Subsequently, he quickly became weak and fragile. My mother was in so much pain but through it all she had courage. My mother gave my grandpa strength to help him get through the chemotherapy. Her courage came in many forms. She would talk about her childhood;a time where my grandpa was strong and brave. He would remember the moments when he wasn’t afraid. Even though bringing up those memories made her remember when her father wasn’t ill, my grandpa would smile. My mother and my grandpa needed courage to overcome cancer. My grandpa’s cancer was like an open wound and my mother’s courage was his stitches to seal that open wound. Courage is what stitch your wounds together until your wound heals. It is what gives you strength to persevere. Courage helps you face your fears and keeps you moving forward.