Moving perspective

My mother was a busy woman.

While visiting my mother, I found a piece of paper on which my mother had hand-written some lists of various events in her adult life. She had lists of addresses where she had lived, places she had worked, etc. There were details that I wasn't familiar with like house numbers, but basically none of it was new information--meaning I had heard about these things before. However, I thought I should record the details in a more permanent way, so I typed them up and promptly emailed them to my sisters.

And a funny thing happened while typing up these lists.  My mother's life came alive to me in a whole new way.  Various things that I had heard of separately here and there, got combined into a big picture. Here's a sample:

1950   Graduated nursing school
1950   Married
1950   Moved, P'burg,12th St.
1951   Moved, P'burg, Walnut St.
1951-53 Husband away in Army
1951-53 Moved, P'burg, 18th St.
1951   Daughter #1 born
1953-56 Moved to E'burg, Mill St.
1953   Sister died
1953   Grandfather died
1954   Daughter #2 born
1956-57  Moved to M'town, Church St.
1957-60  Moved to Penn'burg, Eisenhower Ave.
1957   Daughter #3 born
1960   Moved to Tann'town, Hart St.
1960   Moved in Tann'town, Hart St. in different house
1961   Daughter # 4 born

So in case you didn't study the list, let me summarize it for you. In a little over ten years, my mother moved 8 times in 5 different towns, had 4 kids, and lost two very important people in her life. Also, her husband was gone during the Korean War for two years.

That got me thinking about the current move I'm involved in. I'm not doing it with colicky babies, a husband in the Army, or on a shoestring budget. I'm doing it with my spouse at home, grown children, and good resources. So that perspective should help me calm down a little about the current move I'm involved in. Right?

You'd think so, but I'm still going crazy here with moving details. However, it did give me more respect and admiration for the remarkable woman who is my mother.