"I want to be JUST like you!"

Yes, this is my little BOY. The little boy who loves and adores and admires his big sister and all that she does. You can see that by this picture. She often wears those pink gloves and the pink hat to school when it's really cold out, and so he loves getting them from her as soon as she gets into the van and putting them on. He then says, "Look Madison! Look at my hat! I'm pretty too!" He wants nothing more than to be like her and impress her. She just giggles, tells me, "Mom! Look at Carter!" and then quickly loses interest in his cuteness. I can remember growing up and feeling the same way Carter feels about Madison about my sister. She is 6 years older than I am, and often times she played the part of my mother after my parents divorced. I thought she made the earth spin. Sometimes she would play with me and light up my day, but often times I was a pest to her and she would rather be on the phone, going out with friends, or having friends over and NOT wanting me around. How heartbreaking it can be for the younger siblings when the older ones grow up and "leave" you behind. It's almost like you're forced to find a new idol. Other than God, I've had several people I've looked up to in life. Some of them were people I wish I'd have known better than to want to immulate... but you live and you learn! Thinking about myself now, I really cannot think of anyone that I totally look up to, that i think I can learn great deals about life from. Maybe it's because I've finally grown sure of myself and my own abilities. I don't need others to tell me that I'm a good mother, a good wife, or a good person in general. I think it about myself, and I know my husband and kids think it of me, so what more do I need? It's so freeing to FINALLY not care what "someone" thinks of every decision I make in life. I'm sure the fact that I have a few very close friends now make all of the difference. Friends that, though we don't always agree, they always support me and if they feel I need to be knocked down a peg or two, they know how to do it without stirring me all up. Now i look at my daughter and I wonder if she looks at me the way that I always looked at my sister. If she has those "I want to be JUST like you" feelings. Scary thought that our children often do grow up to make the same mistakes and choices in life that we did. The saying "Do as I say and not as I do" just doesn't work does it? It makes me parent differently than I EVER imagined I would, it makes me treat other people much better than I might have in the past (not that i ever think I've been a mean person.. I just think a lot more about what my kids see me do now), and even the things I EAT have changed. IF my children want to want to grow up to be just like me, I pray that God helps me be a good role model for them. That is a huge responcibility! I have to say that Madison did tell me the other day, and it nearly made me cry, (pg hormones at play I'm sure) "Mommy, when I grow up and I'm a mommy, I want to be a mommy like you are and read and play and do playdough with my babies..." Maybe it wasn't, but I felt it was a great compliment. :)