My Mom

It's Mother's Day and so I must post about my own mom and talk about how great she is. I also included a picture of her holding her precious Sofie (the biggest diva of a dog you'll ever know). It's been an ongoing debate on whether my mom loves Sofie more than her kids. She very well could... But to try to sway my mother's love, I'm going to write a "favorite thing list" and I bet it will warm her heart. So take that Sofie!

So here is a quick list of some of the things I love/like/find funny about my special momma.

1. Her feet pop when she walks down stairs, and somehow I inherited that special talent too.
2. She hates fireworks and has since I was a baby and was burned by one. Now that's loyalty!
3. She bought me my first bike for no reason what-so-ever. I came home from school and it was just there as a surprise. I think that's even better than getting it as a birthday surprise.
4. She's the first to try something new and always the first to get hurt. None of the girls in my family have much grace, but we're clumsy with style. (Okay fine...my mom and I don't have much grace. Kerrie apparently claims to have grace:)
5. She rides scooters with her grandkids and will even race with them. I'm surprised she hasn't gotten hurt doing this yet.
6. She's the first one to start a water fight. I swear this woman lives for water fights.
7. She's a smart, savvy, well-respected business woman.
8. She makes donations in her community all the time, but I want to mention this specific one. She saw an article in the newspaper about a lady that teaches kids with special needs. She mailed the lady a check and a note and told her she was donating in her sister's name. The lady then went out and bought needed books for her classroom and then in the inside cover of the books wrote, "In memory of Geniel" (my mom's sister). I love that story, but I also know that she is always doing things anonymously in the community or for her clients.
9. When we were in school and so incredibly poor, every once in a while I would receive a card from her with twenty bucks slipped inside. Not a ton of money, but those cards always made it to us when we needed it the most.
10. She has a funny wit about her that comes out when she's in large groups of people.
11. She doesn't care what anybody thinks of her. What you see is what you get.
12. She has a real gift for being spiritually aware of situations and people. Sometimes I think the veil is very thin for her. I know that gift and her testimony has had a ripple effect in our family.
13. On Sunday afternoons you can always find her outside in her hammock asleep.
14. When I was younger and in grade school or junior high, once in a while I would get a note right before lunchtime telling me to go down to the registrar's office. There I would find my mom waiting for me wanting to take me out to lunch. Talk about a memory builder! Every mom should do this for her kid once in a while. Plus it makes all other kids think you have the coolest mom ever!
15. When I was in fourth grade and completely in love with New Kids on the Block, she made it possible for me and two of my sisters (Bonnie was too young) to go to their concert in S.L. I'm sure she had to deal with my very unhappy dad because money was tight in those days, but she counted her pennies and made it possible for us. Thanks mom! Being ten years old and seeing Joey McIntyre singing Step by Step completely ROCKED my world!
16. She has really pretty brown eyes and I wish I had her eye lashes.
17. She is a goal setter and a goal achiever. Don't underestimate the things she can accomplish.
18. She believes in tough love. I remember being sixteen years old and grounded from the car for whatever reason and having to find my own way to get to work. She would inform me the bike was always available. At the time I cursed her name, but it taught me my lessons quickly!
19. You can always predict her breakfast. A small cup of diet coke with a piece of toast.
20. She knows when she's needed and is there when she's needed. She gave me major strength when I was having Isaac, but also when I found out that supposedly my ovaries went on permanent vacation. She was the biggest strength in my life. She truly carried me through that very hard time with her optimism and her faith and her willingness to drop everything and travel eight hours just to come sit on the couch with me and cry. She believes and puts more faith in my feelings about my lazy ovaries than the doctor's opinion...and that means a lot. Now, two years later we're beginning the adoption process and she is our biggest fan for that too and is so very excited to meet her next grandchild.

Happy Mother's Day Mom! Love ya!