Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing all the mom's... to angels in heaven or angels on earth.... a happy and peaceful day.

I know my own mom won't read this... but she is an amazing woman and I thank her from the bottom of my heart.

My mom quit school in 8th grade so she could stay home and help her mom take care of the kids (there were 11 all together). She raised babies while her husband was off to war. She kept the house payments up to date, and all the bills paid, and the kids fed and clothed...on what little bit of money Pop could send home each month.

She raised 5 babies on earth. She has 4 babies in heaven. When I was in high school, she went back to school and got her GED :) She was in her 50s by then. What an inspiration. At age 70 she was roller skating... a fun activity that she and Pop had done while they were "courting" (hee...love that word!!)... but at 70 she fell and broke both arms while showing off to me that she could still skate. OY!

She worked various jobs to have extra money for us kids to do special things (piano lessons, vacations, etc).

One summer, she and Pop took my nephew and I and we traveled the US. I SWEAR it was the whole summer. Mom recently told me it was 3 weeks. THREE WEEKS! I'm telling you... how we packed in as much as we did in three weeks is beyond me! We did Disney Land AND Disney World... Kings Island.. Sea World... Frontier Town... swam in the great salt lake...saw the grand canyon... painted desert... giant redwood forest...petrified forest.... copper mines.... the list is endless. The memories will be with me forever!

Of the five living children she has... 3 of us have graduated from college.... 2 of us have Master's Degrees. None have done major time (ok... my brother spent a night in jail as a teenager for stealing a car). None are alcholics (even though Mom's dad was). None are addicted to drugs. All have our own homes. Three of us still live in the same state as Mom.

Mom allowed us to make our own mistakes. And to learn from them. She would tell us if she didn't like one of our friends... and why she didn't like them... but never forbid us from hanging out with them. And in the end, I ended up with close friends who were good people. The bad eggs just seemed to wander off and I lost interest in them.

She was there through Jr. High and being teased, through high school, driver's education, college applications, first apartments, first jobs, broken hearts and broken bones. Mom was there through weddings and babies being born. Baptisms and all the "firsts" of her grandkids... great-grandkids... and great-great grandson :)

She's the best! I wish I could have spent today with her.

I love ya Mom!