Love and War
“Eight… nine… ten!” We pushed out the last of our push-ups with our breathing strained. “I could do this all day!” Leisel, my younger sibling would taunt us. “Not if my rock destroys your scissors!” Taylor, still panting from his push-ups, replied in a wheeze. “Not a chance!” Leisel mocked. It was mom’s call that had led us here. “Kids! Come on down! It’s time for Dad’s favorite!” Every Monday night (or really whenever we get the chance) at FHE we all participate in a game dad invented; The Push-Up War. The game starts off with everyone in push-up/plank position with one fist pointing toward the middle of the circle. Then simultaneously we all, still in the push-up position, do rock-paper-scissors. Everyone who loses has to do 10 push-ups while the others wait in the plank position. As the game goes on it becomes more and more physically exhausting and people begin to falter. When someone falls or touches the ground they are out of the contest, forfeiting victory. Even though The Push-Up War was a lot of fun it served to teach us not only that physical health and conditioning are important, but also that we should always push forward and try our hardest even when things get tough. Throughout the game you would always hear dad panting out to those doing the push-ups, “You can do it! Just a little farther! Don’t give up!” It was often through simple and fun things like this that our parents taught us so many of the important values us kids carry with us in life today.
Dad, being a doctor and a very practical realist, taught us about things such as saving money, exercising regularly, and gaining an education. Mom, a very creative and dedicated stay-at-home mother, taught us things like integrity, creativity, and how to love unconditionally. Both parents were excellent at teaching us through example, however the best example was given by our mom showing us the importance and value of being able to love unconditionally.
“Please can we get a fish?” It was my older sister Melissa who started our pet craze. By the time I was in second grade we had a variety collection of fish, frogs, and hamsters. Habitats filled our playroom and the soft sounds of hamsters running on wheels and frog croaks could be heard from the hall. Dad would often remind us of the conditions of being pet owners, “How are the grades doing? Remember, all A’s or no more pets!” Along with this stipulation the rules were that the only pets allowed were those that lived in a cage and us kids had to do most the caring for. We abided by these rules and within another year found ourselves the happy owners of a disabled gecko, two turtles, and tarantula as well.
“Here, hold Lucy and I’ll do the cage.” We had our method of cleaning down. One kid would hold the tarantula while the other kid would clean out the webby habitat and we would work our way through the pets until they were all taken care of. The pets were all played with and treated kindly as well as care for. It wasn’t until one night I heard mom singing Love at Home in the playroom that I saw how genuine her love for everything was. As the words “There is beauty all around,” weaved their way through the hall I cracked the playroom door open to peek inside. I saw mom singing to the disabled gecko while feeding him medicine through an eye dropper. After she had finished with the eye dropper she proceeded to catch a live cricket from the container, powder it with some calcium, and hand feed it to the lizard. As I continued to watch her she next pulled out some topical medical lotion and began to rub his disabled arms and legs in the ointment. By this point she had reached the third verse singing “Love becomes a way of life,” and I couldn’t help but think about how appropriate the line “Healing balm for every rift,” was right at that moment. Finally the song ended and she gently put the gecko back in his cage. I ran down the hall so she wouldn’t see me as she exited and I watched from my room as she left the playroom and entered the kitchen to continue dishes.
I had always taken for granted how loving and thoughtless mom was. She would always stop everything at the drop of a hat to perform tedious things for us like making food or driving us to and from our sports. We were always polite and grateful toward her, however I never actually took the time to stop and recognize exactly how selfless she was being. It wasn’t until we started getting pets that I noticed this attentive love toward anyone and everything.
Each night after us kids were done caring for the pets I would watch my mom silently slip in after us to do her extra little mile for the gecko, never saying a word except for the singing of Love at Home. After some time the gecko finally healed and could function as normal lizards do. My siblings all thought it was a miracle and that he must be a really special lizard, but the truth behind it was that we had a really special mom. I don’t know why I never told anyone about her secret little slip-ins, perhaps it was that I liked having this special knowledge of her love filled action all to myself. Just knowing that she never had to be spotlighted for her good deeds made it all the more special. She has always been and will always be an amazing role model for me. I now strive to be every bit as caring as she is, by loving anything and everything that crosses my path because it is through this that we can truly make “life a bliss complete, when there’s love at home.”
