Mrs. Schatzi Kassal is a mother of three, grandmother of eight, great grandmother of two and the matriarch of her family.
She is also someone who is wise beyond her years and she is someone who is not going to sugarcoat things. While she is the most compassionate woman you may ever meet, she is also a realist who will tell it like it is.
Her son, Michael, remembers when he was just 6-years-old he was playing baseball and his head was cracked open by a fly ball. While Schatzi rushed him to the emergency room and was very comforting and loving toward him, she also told him something that stays with him to this very day.
“Michael, things are not always easy and you are going to find in life that next time you are out there, you have to pick your head up when the guy is batting.”
These very words show just who Schatzi is. She is now a mental health counselor, and that is probably a big part of why she was able to say these words so comfortably at the time. Life is not always easy, but it is full of lessons and things you can learn from, and when you decide to learn from these things, you will be able to achieve many great things in this life.
“She is constantly getting you ready for life,” Michael said. “You are going to have inner struggles and outer struggles. Things are going to happen, but they will teach you lessons as to what you could have done differently. It’s not always ‘life is perfect,’ and Mom is a realist, pragmatic and practical, and she was always getting us ready for what life really is.”
From a distance this may seem like a harsh way to raise your children, but it was just that way of raising her kids that she was able to show love and truly prepare them for life.
“I think she provides inspiration to live my life with hope and the thoughts that I can’t lose,” Michael said.
He has been amazed throughout the years by just how great of a mom Schatzi is. She always did everything for her family, and Michael calls it a “wonderment” to be related to such an amazing person.
She has achieved more in her lifetime than Michael believes he could in five, and at the young age of 91 she is still constantly looking for ways to grow.
From her charitable acts to her mental health advocacy to never letting the lows in life bring her down, Schatzi is a one-of-a-kind woman who should be cherished for lifetimes to come. People like her do not come around often, and it is no wonder Michael loves getting to call her Mom.
“Whenever I feel sorry for myself because I have a pain or am feeling down, I don’t have to look far and see Mom for inspiration to press on,” he said. “She always prescribed that old saying in Theodore Roosevelt’s Man in the Arena. ‘The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement.’
“These few words have monumental meaning to me about a person who I will always respect, admire and love. I love you, Mom. Happy Mother’s Day!” – Michael
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[…] On top of these notable customers, the story recipients have also made a name for themselves as well. While the Lisa Sylvester we have written a story for might not be the American Peabody and Emmy award-winning journalist who was once on CNN, that does not mean we have not had some other notable people to write about. Staff Sergeant Tim Chambers, better known as The Saluting Marine, has his story etched in FrontPage infamy, as does the Miami legend Schatzi Kassal. […]