Mom Says It Best: How Would You Like Being The Only One Excluded?

ACROSS AMERICA — Michelle Walski-Higgins counts her blessings — and her invitations — when she thinks about her “incredibly smart and kind” mother.

One day in particular sticks out for the Tinley Park, Illinois, woman.

She was in first grade, and her parents wanted her to invite the entire class to the birthday party.

Walski-Higgins pushed the envelope a bit.

“I remember telling my mom I wanted to exclude one boy, who happened to be the class troublemaker,” she wrote in her tribute to her mother. “I still remember her sitting me down and asking me how I would feel if I was the only one excluded from a party and encouraging me to include him.”

The lesson stuck.

“She taught me empathy and to always try to consider all perspectives,” she wrote. “I’m very lucky to have been raised by such an incredibly smart and kind woman. She’s my Shero!”

Walski-Higgins is among Patch readers sharing the best advice they ever got from their moms in our extended celebration of Mother’s Day. Come back to Across America Patch every day for more of these morsels of wisdom we can relate to and smile about as we think of our own moms.

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