happy birthday Mom

Today is my mom's birthday.  She doesn't really like being the center of attention.  In fact, she doesn't like it at all.  So, she probably really doesn't like having an extra large picture of her pasted at the top of my blog this morning.  Too bad!  Because today is her day to celebrate life, and my day to celebrate having her in my life.  At least she isn't alone in the picture.  We can just tell her everyone is so engrossed in looking at my beautiful baby that they didn't even notice her there.  HA!

Seriously, my mom is awesome and I can't imagine life without her.  Can you tell how much I love my mom?  No really, I do.  And I feel lucky in being able to say this because I know of people who don't get along with their mom, who have a terrible mom, who don't have a mom at all, and I actually hurt for these people because life without a mom must be really hard.

I'm hoping for amazing things for my mom this year.  She has retired from her "day job," in order to focus more fully on her family, her dreams, and her health.  She doesn't like to talk about her health, but I'm just going to put this out here...her hands don't work very well.  Carpal tunnel, which can be helped, and arthritis, which can't be helped much, keep her from doing many of the things she so loves to do.  It makes me sad to see her struggle, and to see how much she tries to deny and hide it.  But her dreams, they are only just beginning.  My mom is a dreamer, I get some of that from her, but my sensible side takes over too often and the fear of failure keeps me from dreaming too big.  I strive to be more like her.  She dreams of a farm, the kind that has a produce stand, and teaches canning classes, and might even have a pumpkin patch in the Fall. It might happen, it might not, but she is focusing on it, and it makes her happy, and I can't think of a better way for her to spend her time.  As for family, I can't remember a time in my life when my mom hasn't put her family ahead of everything else.  Laci and I are so thankful for a safe haven we can now visit daily when the discomforts of living in a shop/trailer get to be too much.  I'm sure in a couple of months when #2 arrives, we'll be even more grateful.

At this point, I'm sure my mom (who reads this blog regularly) is trying to hide under a rock or something.  I guess I could always delete this post if it turns out to be too much.  But as much as my mom hates to be the center of attention, she also loves to see her daughters doing what they love...in my case, blogging.  So, she will graciously allow me to ramble on at her expense so that I can exercise my writing muscles, and she will anxiously await my next post so that she can move down from the top of the blog.

I love you mom, and Happy Birthday.