Compare and Contrast

Something I catch myself doing a lot is comparing where I am in my life at this age with where Mom was at my age. I'm X years old doing foo, when Mom was X she was doing bar.

I've now reached age X where when Mom was X, I was Y. I can remember it myself, first-hand. When she was my age now, I was three. I know where we lived, and where she worked, and where I went to school. She was divorced. She was raising me on her own. I can't even imagine keeping a houseplant alive, and she was supporting us both.

My mother and I are more alike than we're different, I think. We're in very different fields, and have taken different directions with our lives, but there's a lot of common ground. She's definitely stronger than me, in a lot of ways.