The things I've learned along the way

On my recent trip home to visit my Mom, I had the opportunity to talk to my cousin Nancy. Actually, she's my Mom's cousin but that doesn't really matter in our family. She mentioned something that really made me think. She said that even though I wasn't always around the Aceto's growing up, she was glad my mom raised me to BE an Aceto anyway.
I have thought about that statement all week, and she's right. Now that I think of it, almost all the things my Mom taught me are actually Aceto traits, not just Mom traits.

My Mom taught us (by example) that it's always better to make home made meals. She never fed us store-bought, processed foods. Everything was made from scratch, even the cookies. That's definitely something she learned from her Grandma Aceto who would never have fed her family anything but her own cooking. From what I have heard, Grandma's cooking was pretty darn good and her skills were not unappreciated.

She also taught us not to be wasteful. To this day I can't stand to see food go to waste. Even though I am not nearly as good a cook as my Mom, I can make more than one meal out of something just so I don't have to throw out the left-overs. The older generation of Aceto's grew up poor so being wasteful was not an option. My Great Aunt Ann would probably smack a grown man in the head for wasting good food! Now, that virtue is instilled deep within me.

My Mom taught us to pay our bills on time, even if that means doing without some of the things we enjoy in life. She's all about common sense..."You don't go out to dinner if you can't pay your phone bill!". That makes so much sense but so many people who can't seem to pay those monthly bills, somehow have the ability to go out to eat or get their nails done. Practicality is definitely an Aceto trait.

Some other things I've learned from my Mom along the way are "save for a rainy day, put away for retirement, if you get a raise in pay just put it away like you never got it, treat people fairly, always do the right thing, stand up for what you believe in, always tuck your kids into bed at night, don't ever let a child go to bed hungry..." I could go on and on.

For a woman who grew up in the worst of circumstances, suffering from poverty, abandonment and abuse, she sure shared a lot of knowledge! I'm glad I was paying attention, most of the time.
I hope I can pass along some of those same Aceto values to my kids.

Thanks Mom!