My Mom

Today I looked at my husband and said, "How the heck am I the mom of 4 kids?? I have become my mother!" And I am proud of it!

My mom taught me some very important lessons! She taught me that if your man is loading dishes in the dishwasher in the most ineffective way known to man, to never ever say anything. He'll never load it again!

She taught me that if your dishes come out with a few little pieces of food still stuck on, that is perfectly ok. Its clean food!

My mother taught me that if the dryer is making a horrible noise and seems to be walking across the laundry room, then your radio is not even near high enough!

She taught me that no matter how old your kid gets, you still lay awake at night worrying that they ate the right food, have the right friends, marry the right person and changed their underwear today.

I must admit that I made my mom's job every mother dream, no mom, not night mare, I said dream. I remember one day my sister and I were doing something we weren't supposed to. Hard to believe I know.  Anyway we were sentenced to the downstairs indefinitely. The downstairs had this window that was level to the ground. After a while, and I am sure this was my sister idea, we climbed out of the window and went to play. 

I remember once a neighbor boy walked me home. It was starting to get dark, and we stood outside talking. At one point I glanced up at my bedroom window directly above us and my mothers nose was squished rather disproportionately against the window, lips leaving smudges, as she tried to hear what we were talking about. 

I remember my mom taking me to get my ears pierced and 10 years later convincing her to do the same. I remember my mom reading to us for hours at a time. I remember sitting on the floor for inhumane amounts of time as my mom painstakingly braided my hair in little tiny braids so my hair would be wavy for church. I remember my mom prom dress shopping with me, and her tight lipped smiles when I headed out the door with my prom date. I remember my mom hugging me good bye at my wedding, trying not to cry. I remember my mom, tears streaming down her face as she held her first grandson for the first time, and even though he looked like something from a horror movie with his odd shaped purple bruised head, saying he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen and she totally meant it!

I have called my mom sobbing. I have called my mom so excited I was breathless. I have called my mom with nothing really to talk about and hung up an hour later. I have called my mom asking, what do I do if my son eats THAT? Or what should I do if my kid is still in diapers in college? What should I do if I have baked the pie for 2 hours and its still runny? What should I use to get pee out of the carpet? What should I do if I am sick and my kids aren't? What should I do if my kid is covered in red spots?

Mom I am so proud to call you mom!! I love you more than I will ever be able to tell you and I hope I can be as good of a mother as you have been. Thank you!