Mom :: Teresa Margaret McLaughlin

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I would like to share some thoughts as to who my Mother was to me and to other people. At her funeral a local businesswoman who had faced many challenges came to me. She said at times she was on the point of giving up and “Terry” would appear and give her the confidence to go on. In parting she said “the only way I could describe Terry was she was a GRAND LADY”. Mother was the type of person who truly could not feel any prejudice. Terry although brought up in church steeped in the tradition of inflexibility with regards to many things, did not allow that to stop her from loving godsons who were gay. She constantly amazed me with her desire to conquer the world with love. Her most vigorous expression of this was the unflagging commitment she had to all of her sons. Sometimes that was not easy, however Mother believed so strongly in all of us that we finally all developed a strong belief in ourselves.

Often in times of my life when I was worried and concerned with how to deal with my own children she would say “Peter just love them, that is the most important if you love them unselfishly their lives will turn out fine”. It would be remiss of me not to mention another thing Mother taught me and that is never to criticize. As we all know Mother was a lady with an uncommon faith, which she expressed through her participation at St. Peter’s Catholic Church. Mother was also active in a pro life movement where she spent time counseling young girls who became pregnant that they did have options. Its funny Mother was not against abortion she was for saving babies. It wasn’t till sometime later that I read that Mother Teresa had the same view, she was not against evil she was for good. It was just a positive way of looking at things. As opposed to being against anything Mother was for good. Her view was one of positive self expectation.

I can hear her today saying to me “stand up straight put shoulders back and face the world”. Mother was doing 50 years ago what all the self help books are now recommending. When the decision was made that we needed a new church I sometimes felt as though Mother had taken on raising the money all by herself. I said to her when she first told me about the church that it would never happen. They would not be able to raise the money. Well she proved me wrong and today Parry Sound has a beautiful modern church which stands as testament to all the people who believed it could be done. However after raising 5 boys she was the grandmother who could easily understand Jeff her first grandson. One of Mother’s greatest pleasure’s was the arrival of Elizabeth her first granddaughter. After having 5 boys and giving up on having a girl as her legacy Mother was rewarded with Elizabeth. For the next almost 30 years Mother could play the role as NaNa and mother to Elizabeth and Jeff. Now they say she made them feel so comfortable because they knew how much she loved them. Then with great pleasure she welcomed the arrival of Michelle and then Isa. I feel all of these girls filled a special spot in Mother’s life.

I can’t speak for all my brothers but I will. I think we all look on our lives as special because of the special Mother we had. No matter how things were going we always knew we were welcome to call Mom.

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