My Mom is my hero.
Winnie Ann(e) Elaine George was born on May 22nd, 1953 at Markland Cottage Hospital in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. Her parents, Bob and Vivian George, raised her in Whiteway, Newfoundland, along with her older sister, Helen, older brother James, and four younger brothers, Lloyd, Robert, Darryl, and Kevin.
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| Mom (on left) with her sister, Helen. |
Mom was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of eight and has devoted herself to self-care through a healthy diet and exercise all her life. She is currently using the latest version of the insulin pump, but during all my childhood took an average of three needles a day. I remember sitting down with her one day when I was in high school to try to calculate the number of needles she had actually taken in her life...I think it was around 40-50 thousand at that point! Mom’s focus on maintaining good health became more poignant for me in my teenage years when I went with her, from time to time, to attend funerals for friends she had made as a child at Diabetic Camp. Though often jokingly referred to as the ‘sick one’ by her family, she has proven to be the ‘strong one.’
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| Mom (on right) with her friend, Sharon. |
My Mom is my hero.
Mom left to ‘find her fortune’ in Toronto at the age of 18, soon marrying John (Jack) Drover on December 18th, 1971 and having me, her first child, on May 25th, 1972. I’ll let you do the math... Quickly fed up with the pace of life in Ontario, she brought us home to Newfoundland within the year and, after having Jason in 1974, came to settle in Spaniard’s Bay. Mom worked as a house cleaner, a waitress, a school cafeteria cook/supervisor, and finally school caretaker until culminative injuries from her strenuous work (no doubt aggravated by her diabetes) forced her to take an early retirement. My Mom has the same work ethic that her father had: if you hadn’t put in a full day’s work by 10AM, you’ve wasted your day! The years may have slowed her body, but her will has not been blunted in the least.
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| Mom on her walk 'around the pond' in Whiteway. |
My Mom is my hero.
Mom took Jason and I to church from as far back as I can remember. I wasn’t the greatest fan of ‘church’ and was fidgety, usually egging my brother on. Mom threatened on more than one occasion to not bring us back if we didn’t ‘smarten up.’ She never followed through on that threat. She encouraged my interest in the church and is one of the main reasons why my love/hate relationship with the church and organized religion always returns to love. Mom sang in the choir, served in every office in the Anglican Church Women’s (ACW) Association at local and diocesan levels. She taught Sunday school, became a server and trained servers, held a wide variety of offices on vestry and parish council, including warden and treasurer, and attended multiple synods as a delegate. She completed her high school diploma when I was in university and went on to earn as Associate Degree in Theology from Queen’s College, Newfoundland. Among many other things, she is currently serving on the Diocesan Council of the Diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador. Mom taught ‘love’ as the greatest of all commandments. Not the feeling, but the act. After attending Cursillo she decided that she wanted to do MORE and so started selling Avon so that she might have opportunity to touch more people’s lives on a regular basis, offering a friendly face, conversation, support, and where needed, prayer. Mom is a disciple through and through.
My Mom is my hero.
A quiet, unassuming woman who listens carefully before adding her 2 cents…and trust me, she always has 2 cents she can offer, Mom leads from within. It is never about her. It is always about meeting the need. My brother, father, and I have always received the best of care, comfort, steadfast devotion, and often tough (but fair) love from Mom.
Before I finish, let me be clear, my mother is not perfect, and she would be the first person to tell you, literally. However, Mom has always taught my brother and I to ‘get up off our asses’ when we have fallen, for whatever reason, and keep at it. Giving up is NEVER an option. Learn from your mistakes and get on with living life.
My Mom is my hero.
Happy Birthday, Mom.
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