Pennylynn Webb: COLUMN: My greatest gift to my kids

May 10—This Sunday, we celebrate mothers around the world on Mother's Day. I myself am a mother to two wonderful people who I celebrate as often as I can. They are now grown and living their own lives — one in U.S. Air Force boot camp, the other in college. I love me kids as they are, for who they are. My only hope for them is that they be the best version of themselves.

My greatest gift to my children was not trying to fit them into a box of my making or telling them who to be.

That was also my biggest challenge.

I remember decorating my kids' bedrooms with rodeo and cowboy décor when they were infants. Neither one of them ever cared much for rodeos or cowboying.

I remember signing them up for sports with high hopes of them being star athletes — they never were — and that is okay, too.

Fishing and hunting were also pushed upon my children — one loves shooting and has great skills in that area. The other hates guns but enjoys fishing. Yet neither of them pursue hunting and fishing as their primary hobbies at this point in their lives. Maybe they'll circle back around later.

My kids have and continue to excel at many things.

My oldest went to college on a band scholarship and played in the Trinity Valley Community College marching and concert bands for three years while they got their associate degree. I was at every game I could be at cheering them on, taking pictures and videos. Now they are in San Antonio for U.S. Air Force boot camp. I'm proud of them for wanting to serve our country and I can't wait to hug them and tap them out at their graduation ceremony.

My youngest is at Texas Woman's University at Denton, pursuing a degree in Theater — the same field I got scholarships for and excelled in at college. They have been in multiple plays, participated in art exhibitions and they are now pursuing photography and film. I'm so proud of them.

I didn't force either of them to do anything. I let them tell me who they are. I loved them as they were, and are, and will continue to do so.

My kids are smart, well-rounded, individuals. Today, I believe, because I allowed them to pursue their interest, they have a great sense of who they are as people.

I raised them to think for themselves — to know who they are, what they want and to be who they want to be.

I always told them I would love and support them no matter what, and that I am proud of them for who they are, as they are.

Don't get me wrong, this wasn't an easy road — especially as a single mom.

I don't like everything my kids do or have done. We argue. We have deep, philosophical conversations. We have heated debates. I talk to my kids like adults and my kids talk to me like an adult and it's not easy — because sometimes they are right and I have to concede, and sometimes they are wrong and I have to parent.

At the end of the day — my kids know they are loved and they don't have to do anything to earn that love. They don't have to meet any expectations or be someone they are not — they are just loved.

I'm so happy to be their mother.

PennyLynn Webb is an award winning news writer and columnist, and the editor of the Palestine Herald-Press and Jacksonville Daily Progress. You can email her at pwebb@palestinerherald.com.