Happy Mother's Day

Mom keeping me from getting my wedding dress dirty.

In honor of Mother's Day I would like thank my mom for influencing all of the good qualities I have. My mom is amazing and she really tried with me. I gave her quite a workout. I have two older boisterous brothers. When my mom was pregnant with me the nuns at church informed her they were praying she would have a girl. She did. Years later she said I was the one who gave her the most grey hair. I don't think I was defiant so much as dangerous. I was the daredevil. I had to do something to keep up with those older brothers. I think my mom's first choice for me was ballet. I ended up in gymnastics with no interest in the dance part of things and only the desire to tumble. Parents were only allowed to watch in the last 5 minutes of class. I remember getting so excited to show my mom the new tricks I had learned that class I often over rotated..Yes, it was due to me the coach began putting a crash mat against the wall just before class ended. She kept me in check too...I remember riding home from the ski hill ( not to be confused with "the mountain" it really was only a hill). Salty tears ran down my cheeks. My pole got stuck coming out of the start and I had to take my run with one pole. This seemed like such a rookie thing for a 6th grader and these things did not happen to me. I was too cool. I was embarrassed and mad because I wanted to go faster. I wanted to win and I didn't. As she pulled the Oldsmobile Woody Wagon into the garage she told me I needed to stop crying and carrying on before we went inside and my Dad saw me. She told me these things happen to people in every race and if I wanted to continue to compete I was going to have to learn to deal. She pointed out I was doing this for fun, personal satisfaction, and sportmanship. If I couldn't accomplish those things she and my father had no interest for me to continue. A lot of the kids at the hill were very cocky. They talked a lot of trash, saying thing like "I could beat you with only my boots". My parents encouraged me to let my actions speak for me as if it was so simple to not respond to another's goading. My mother also threatened that if I misbehaved my skis would go straight into the trunk for the rest of the season. This image scared me so much as a child. I still have a picture of my little skis in the trunk of the car....edges rusting while I sulked. Those thoughts have always stuck with me....If you happen to be offended by my idropboys stickers on my bike gear...don't blame my mom.

Mom's lasagna...yum!

My mom is an excellent homemaker. She cooked. She baked. She sewed. She kept the house spotless even with me around. I repeat EVEN WITH ME AROUND. I have vague memories that my shadow had broom and dust pan as I tracked in dirt. Tunrs out it wasn't the shadow....that's why I had to get mop slippers. I also remember her grabbing my fingers wiping them and stopping me before I touched anything (else). "Sticky fingers, I can't stand them". Then she would sigh. I didn't mean to be messy.....I was just blissfully unaware of how much work I was. Looking around my home I think WOW....she really had to work hard and work fast. I am a messy girl. Not dirty, as in unsanitary, just messy as in too many projects too little time. I guess you could say I am a little disorganized especially compared to my Mom. She has everything organized. You should see her cupboards. I think as I get older the more I appreciate how much my mom did. I honestly thought as a child that mom's automatically were able to have the knowledge, time, and discipline to keep everything and everyone organized. I thought Mom's had a chip installed that enabled them to cook well, garden, drive taxi's:), help with home work, read to their kids at night, manage the groceries, and plan the meals. I never ever entertained she might have had something better to do. She just made it all look so easy, like there was not a thing to it. I now know differently.

Mom and my niece Maddy.

My mom is a great playmate. She knows exactly what to make the dolls say. She often changes the names in the books she reads to please the audience she's reading to. My mom loves to read and is a very good writer. She always uses proper punctuation, spell check and unlike me she doesn't over use the word LIKE. She thinks run on sentences are a crime yet still enjoys my blog.

In fact she's even taught their dog Sparky to write. He sends me letters keeping me up to date through his point of view. I wish she would help Sparky set up a blog ;0) My mom is also the best library patron you will ever know. She reads like I ride my bike and has never ever returned a book late. Thanks Mom. I love you.

P.S. Sorry about the typos....I had to set the timer for my blog writing like you did for my homework and it just dinged....time to clean up the dirt I tracked in and wipe off the fingerprints I have left behind.