Sunday, May 13, 2007

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

I love my mom.

Over the years, I have learned to appreciate this beautiful woman more and more because of her loving nature, the way she empathizes with me, the soothing sound of her voice, and her utmost commitment to her family. In my eyes, she is such a blessing to our family and an angel sent to this earth by the grace of God...and we're the lucky ones who get to celebrate her life with us!





My mom is the glue that holds our family together. She is a mediator, a confidant, and my best friend. This woman knows me inside and out and I have pretty much told her everything there is to know (and sometimes TMI) about my thoughts, feelings, opinions, and ideas. She has this mom-way of knowing when something is wrong just by the sound of my voice on the phone. We have an uncanny sixth sense with one another, too....she will email me when I'm emailing her or we'll be ready to call each other at the same time because we're thinking of the other. I think this is so cool knowing that somebody else is thinking of ME at the same exact time!


I can't remember a time where I haven't been able to be at home celebrating Mother's Day with my family, but I'm sure there has been one or two in years past. I'm going to miss showering mom with love, hugs, and gifts letting her know that she is remembered on such a great day. I wish I could celebrate my mom with the enthusiasm that I have done in the past, but I guess memories, emails, and phone calls will have to suffice. It just isn't the same, though.





Thinking back through the years past brings a smile to my face when I think of all we've done together - the good and the bad. The good being celebrations, childhood birthday parties, and hanging out together. The bad being prom dress shopping three years in a row, the Vacation from Hell, and purse shopping for her on any given day. The good news is that we can look back on these 'bad' moments and laugh - and boy do we!

My mom is very funny (just ask).



There was a time when my brother and I were young and we were in trouble with her for who knows what. She asked a very simple question - "Do you want a knuckle sandwich?" We laughed. She was serious. We laughed harder. Dad thought it was funny, too. Now does a knuckle sandwich come with jelly? Nobody can take a mom serious when she can't yell and for some reason, her voice would go up about 8 octaves when she was mad. I remember another high octave day when I got to go to work with her one afternoon and decided to type all sorts of naughty words on their brand new computer (that I thought was turned off). Come to find out, only the monitor was off, so everything that I had typed, came up right in front of her eyes. Mom didn't know that I knew (or had heard) so many things about her boss at the time. I had to go home and tell dad what I had done (again, he laughed). Funny stuff...

Mom taught me a new found way of ordering chicken fajitas through the McDonald's drive thru - ask her about it sometime because I'm sure she'd love to divulge the story.

I remember the first time I heard my mom drop the f-bomb...she was walking our blind, deaf dog and it slipped out like Ralphie trying to help his dad change a tire on 'A Christmas Story' - I had no idea that she even had this word stored up in her mom vocabulary. I should have made her sit with Ivory liquid dish soap in her mouth to see how unpleasant it was (I know from experience that it's a foul taste). I remember playing P-I-G many evenings during summer and the sure fire way to make mom miss a shot was to make a fart noise. I remember playing bad mitton over the clothes line when I was younger and mom and I were always on a team - girls against boys. The same pertained to Trivial Pursuit and the one time we played Monopoly with dad - FYI, don't ever play Monopoly with dad.

Mom and I had a special spider that we named Mr. Spidey - he was a small plastic spider that we would hide from each other. Let me preface this by saying that my mom is scared of spiders, which in turn made me petrified of them. I remember once when she tried to kill a wolf spider and she ran away - it chased her. Mr. Spidey scared the bejeezus out of each of us on many occasion. We would randomly hide this thing around the house - under pillows, in the utensil drawer, in my cheese and broccoli soup, and even in a box when I moved to college. The mother of all Mr. Spidey jokes was when I had been out drinking with some friends when I was home from college. When I got home and reached in to the medicine cabinet to get my toothbrush, Mr. Spidey flew out at me - he was attached to a piece of dental floss that she had strategically placed at eye level. I screamed, she laughed uncontrollably. The last I saw of him was when I scared her for the last time - what did you do with him?

I have learned so many things about my mother in the last 32 years and I can only hope that I will be half the woman that she is today. She is supportive, caring, and loving... she is the best cook that I know and makes a mean chocolate pie from scratch (and the best peanut butter balls)... she smells good and she has soft hands.... she has a beautiful smile and gives the best hugs ever... she has so many years worth of experience, trials, tribulations, success, and nurturing under her belt. I watch her with her grand kids and smile because she truly enjoys spending time with them. I see her playing the same games that she played with us when we were young and I know what an impact it made on me - to know that she is shining her light on a whole new generation is amazing and a blessing. I love my mom.

Even though we're not going to be able to spend time together on Mother's Day, I want you to know how much you mean to me, mom. I love you with all of my heart. You have been such a positive influence in my life and always will be. I'm glad I had you to take care of me when I have been sick, after the numerous surgeries on my hands and feet when I was little, and for letting me crawl in to bed on 'your side' when there was a thunderstorm and I was scared.

Thank you for the pep talks when I've been down, for your shoulder to cry on when things didn't go my way, and understanding every drawn out detail when I changed best friends four times a week. Thank you for our many days of shopping, eating country fried chicken salads, and splitting dessert at Applebees. Thank you for helping me move from place to place the last couple of years and never complaining about it or making me feel like I was a burden for asking.. you are always there for me and it never goes unnoticed or under appreciated. Thank you for supporting this move to CA that has enabled me to pursue a dream - if it weren't for you backing me up 100%, I may still be picking my lip over such a huge decision! Thank you for always letting me know how much you love me, for being open and honest, and for caring about me as a person. You are my best friend and I love you, mom.

Happy Mother's Day!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, sweet daughter, what a tribute to a mom...thanks a million. And thanks for putting the "cow hat" picture on the web for all to see. Man, that was a fun day! Absolutely no alcohol was consumed that day ! And this morning, I also used the words "trials & tribulations" talking with your dad! Eery once again! I forgot about some of those things you listed so thanks for the memories. And then, there was the screw driver to the head act! And one time in band camp....see, still funny!! Thanks again for the Mother's Day tribute. Love you always. Mom

Unknown said...

I think I'm weeping. That was beautiful. You have a lucky mom! You are a lucky daughter!

Anonymous said...

Wow, sweet message. I hope the Vacation from Hell wasn't the trip to North Carolina!!! I remember you not being too fond of our mountains and CURVES!!! Great tribute to your mom.

Anonymous said...

I laughed...I smiled....I cried. I feel truly blessed to be related to BOTH of you.