The Meaningful Touch. This step was difficult for me because my family has never been very "touchy feely," and so hugging is not something we do very often. I wanted to hug my mother to show her that I care about her, but hugging made us both uncomfortable. So, I told her that I was working on a "school project" and that I needed to hug her every time I saw her to record our feelings. Mom was very uncomfortable at first, but as the weeks progressed, she got used to our hugging when we first saw each other, and she even began to initiate it after a while. After we became used to hugging, I also noticed that she was more open to physical touchin

The Responsibility. This was maybe the easiest part of the blessing for me, because I had worked my way up to it, and that was really the hard part!!! I felt as if I had a stronger, higher power with me as I moved through the steps and began to see the results in my family, and in myself. If my mother seemed more content, so did I. So, they responsibility of the blessing did not feel like a burden, it actually felt like a gift and that a great weight had lifted off me. I spend more time with my mother now, and what's more, I enjoy it more than I did before. I have many commitments, but I work especially hard to make time for my mother and her needs. I see that she does not always ask for help or for my company, but that she is grateful for it when it happens. I see that she really doesn't ask for much for herself, and has been that way for a long time, and I hope that as she moves through the steps she will recognize that and find the strength to change that, and begin to live her life more fully. I see that as a continuation of the step of picturing a special future for her, too.

I have always wanted to put my career first and my education, and I don't see myself getting married for quite a while, and my brothers are pretty flighty, so she doesn't expect them to settle down any time soon. I told her that I had this image in my mind, and I surprised myself because it seemed as if the children she was enjoying were MINE! It was an image that didn't bother me as much as I thought it would, which took some getting used to. However, I told her that I saw a happy and healthy future for her, and that I thought she would have plenty of grand kids to love and enjoy. She seemed surprised by my thoughts, but thanked me, and told me that would be one of the happiest moments in her life, to play and love her grandchildren. I can see it means a lot to her, and that my hope for her future matched many of her own thoughts that she had never told me.

Attaching High Value. I guess the touching and talking did have more value than I originally thought, because my mom just got "softer" somehow after we talked. I think we talked more after that, and we both were interested in what the other had to say. I also told her that I wanted to know more about her life when she was my age. A couple of times we went to lunch together, and she began to share stories of her childhood and young adulthood, and I had never heard many of them. We became closer, and there was a bond between us that had not been there before. I began thinking about the high value that had come from our sharing experiences with each other, and I began to really look and see how I truly valued the people in my life - especially my family. I seemed to have taken them for granted before, and now, it was as if I was seeing them in a new light.

How do I plan to adapt this to my life in the future? I think I will keep a copy of this book in my bookshelf, just in case I forget the five steps. I will also be more forgiving of others, and open to them and their wants and needs. I have seen that as a result of doing this with my mother, I have learned more about her and myself in the process. I took my mother for granted and I did not give her much of myself in return. I resented her because of all the things she didn't do for me, rather than treasuring her for all the things she did do. It was hard for me to admit that, and hard to share with her. I did

Some common words found in the essay are:
Special Future, Attaching Value, Spoken Message, Meaningful Touch, , happy future, grand kids, spoken message, meaningful touch, picturing special future, uncomfortable told, family mother, live life, steps bless, step difficult, five steps,
Approximate Word count = 2327
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)