Mother's Day...

Mother's Day is here again. I have been wanting to take the time to write about my mom for a month or so. At church every year, Mother's Day is a big deal. We are encouraged to write letters about why our mom's should be Mother of the Year and then the pastor's wife and pastor pick one to be honored as MOTY. As far as I know they have done it as long as I have been on this earth. When I was a young I often wrote about my mom and turned them in. It's been many many years since I personally have participated in this ritual. This year I had planned to take a few minutes of my quiet time to write one and while I thought many times about things to say and recalled many memories...I just never took the time in the hectic schedule that is my life. So here I am blogging at the end of the day on Mother's Day.

Where do I start....growing up my mom has always worked. She showed me how to raise a family and be a help mate to her husband by helping provide for our family. As a child it seems at least in my memory that I was ALWAYS sick...bad ears....as I would have ear infection after ear infection and mom always took care of me. There was nothing she could do to take a way the excrutiating pain I had, but she would sit with me and tickle my face just so I knew she was there. Then came adolescence and oh my....I by no means was as bad of a kid as she thought, but I sure caused my share of trouble and heartache for her...yet she was always there. We didn't see eye to eye through my teen years...she was the overprotective parent only wanting to see me do right and I was the obnoxious teenager trying to make my own rules cause she was totally crazy and irrational and I had ALL the answers

I made it to graduation the time of my life I had dreamed of, freedom finally, but that didn't happen. I still had the "if you want to live here you have to follow OUR rules" and being the youngest, the only girl with 2 older brothers I just didn't get why they had more freedom and later curfews. Of course at 18, I was so much wiser than her. What did she know about life? She was just trying to hold me back from being independent...or atleast I thought so.

At 19 I decided I had enough we just couldn't get along and I was tired of being "the child" so I told her I was moving out. Time to get a place of my own. Dan and I had found a home to rent in Waterford (45 minutes to 1 hour) from my childhood home. I think I told her about 1-2 weeks before I planned to move. Mind you mom and dad had never met Dan....see although Dan and I had been together 10-11 months at the time...he was much older(15 years) so at first I didn't even let her know about him....then when I did she thought it was just a "phase" that would pass so to show her disapproval she didn't want to meet him. Once Dan and I began making moving plans she wanted to meet him and by that point in typical independent teenage style I told her it wasn't necessary she hadn't wanted to meet him before so why now...no point. She met him as he helped me move out of their home. Needless to say my moving wasn't on the best of terms but mom through her tears that day let me know while coming back home would never be the same....she would always be there if I needed her.

As I left and set out on my own I thought I didn't need her and would show her just how strong and independent I could be....Heck I didn't need her. Imagine my surprised that after I moved out the tension had been lifted which allowed us both to see each other in a different light. I didn't have to checkin or report to her anymore yet I would call her to checkin anyway just to touch base. It wasn't long after I moved out that we began to grow closer.

Today and for quite a while now, my mom has been one of my best friends. I am so glad that her and I have been able to become as close as we have. She has always been there for me and to me is mother of the year every year!

Mom was there through the planning of my wedding....through the birth of my 3 sons....and she the best mom and grandma in the world! She has grown to love and accept Dan and he has become her favorite son in law....not hard since there's no competition She has kept my boys when Dan and I can't be there! She is the one who taught us how to get Damien to sleep at night when he was just a few days old. She's been with me at many scary hospital visits with the boys. She was the first person I called when Dan had his heart attack....she is always there not only for me, but also for my husband and boys as well as my brothers.

So today, I honor my mommy and friend! I am so blessed to share the relationship I do with my mom. Mom for all the times you have been there cheering me on, shedding quiet tears for me, just loving me.....THANK YOU!

I love you mom! Happy Mother's Day!