The Book Thief - One Shots

My Mother

A note from Rosanna

My mother

My mother was always there with a smile to say "You're not alone." And it made me feel protected and loved. She makes every day in the history of our lives special, even on the darkest days. My father taught her to do that, bring back the energy. It's energy in you that changes your mood, which your mood changes your day completely.

She is strong and can keep her emotions well hidden when you don't take notice of them. She has a beautiful laugh and dark brown eyes that stand out from her German brand of hair. Her gold curl reach down a few inches below her shoulders perfectly, as if they'd had been attended to for hours.

All the silly mistakes you'd make would make you laugh with her rather than tease her and her tell you to shut up.

She had a few sayings she'd bring up often as a reminder in life. "Other things may change us, but we start and end with family."

She'd tell us stories, which is how we were taught our manners and lessons. She made me and my brothers eager to be just like Jesse who continued his dream and ignore what other people thought. For Nelson who fought for freedom and peace.

She'd use her stubbornness as a power to convince us to do things that we couldn't even imagine doing on our own. 
"I bet you can't even make it to the end of the driveway without training wheels!" She said. That would make the blood boil in my veins enough that I wanted to prove her wrong and I did. I forgot all about the anger and got excited for the achievement I'd made.

Whenever she set us to a task and we'd ask why, rather than saying "Because I told you to." She'd tell us the reason. But just because she told us why, it didn't mean we got to get away with not doing it. Of course we still had to do as we were told.

She's like an eagle, with the way they can rotate their heads backward. Her dangerous eyes that show she isn't afraid to put up a fight.

She is a mother keen to embarrass us. "Sing out loud in the car even, or especially, if it embarrasses your children." She'd kiss us in front of everyone on the first day of school and sing songs when a school crush was brought up. I suppose that's where I get it from, as Alex and I always tease Avia, Max's daughter. "Caesar I love you, Caesar I do! When we're apart my heart beats hoping for you!"

As all siblings do, we get into fights. Eventually you realise how silly our arguments can be about, but best not go into that. I'm sure you know the idea anyway, even if you don't have siblings yourself or someone else to grow up with. These problems appear sometime in your life, even if it's with your parents.

Our mother never spanks us, but she has a way of letting us know when we'd displeased her, usually with a disappointed look or the way she didn't make much contact with us. The smallest of things she'd do, we take notice of. She's almost not herself when she's upset about something. We don't much like that feeling, so for the most part, we try our best to be good.

She'd occasionally yell when she was tired of hearing us all talking at once, protesting when we didn't want to follow her final word. She'd send us to our room when we'd disobey her or sneak sweets before dinner.

When we'd bicker, she'd put us in an over-sized shirt together, labelled 'Our get along shirt.' And we weren't to take it off until we apologized and kept quiet of the argument.

There weren't many occasions that she'd have to sit with us and talk about what we did, as that's what the shirt was for. I remember a few of those times I'd been in the shirt, and I still remember how stupid the argument I'd had was.

Her punishments she'd give aren't the only things that I distinguish from other families, but also how they do things.

When I'd say to my mother, "That's not what a normal mother would do." And she would say, "And what would you call a normal mother? There is no way to be a perfect mother, but a million ways to be a good one."