Happy Mothers Day

A tribute to MY Mom...even though she has been "promoted" for a few years now. It doesn't diminish the effect that she still has on my life.

I want to thank her for the stuff I don't remember ever thanking her for.

For finally giving me the secret ingredient to her Meatloaf so mine is better than Brian's. ( on the other hand I DO thank her for teaching Brian how to make the best home-made french fries this side of Wendy's.)

For writing to me in college, (in LONG HAND YET!) 5 pages of perfect penmanship, recapping the 3 Soap Operas that she had gotten me hooked on. There were notes in the margin explaining when the organ music played a sinister effect. Since most of the gals on my floor section were getting As The World Turns withdrawal, I made lots of friends through those letters as we all huddled around making comments of advice to the TV characters (like they were right there), laughing and bonding.

Then there were the goofy audio tapes that we mailed back and forth when I was living near Boston and commuting by car 55 minutes each day to Rhode Island for my job. Again, I got my soap updates but she would also pretend to be a newscaster to "report the latest on the home front". (Can you tell communication was a big deal in our family?) Oh, how I valued those little tapes!

Mom was always in a good mood in the morning. I would say that she showed us how to start the day off right by saying a cheery "Good Morning" even if we felt like Brooke Shields after listening to the rantings of Tom Cruise.

She had this positive way about her. Every time she saw somebody, she would compliment them on something specific. She told me once that you shouldn't dole out general comments like, "You look nice today." but that it should be specific, like "you look great in that color green ~ it shows off your pretty tongue after having too many mint julips."

Mom taught me how to make games out of completing chores so it didn't seem so awful.
We would whistle during washing the dishes, playing "name that tune" to guess the song in the least number of notes.

She also trained me (in no uncertain terms) that bad language or throwing of any golf club was NOT to be tolerated. Lots more people wanted to play golf with me once I learned THAT lesson.

She would ask us "Please don't give me flowers and compliments when I'm gone, do it while I'm alive"...and I hope I did.

I remember going with Mom to The Vineyard Church in Columbus and thoroughly enjoying the whole experience. As the music played, I looked over through misty eyes and saw her crying. There we were, holding hands and dropping tears on the chairs in front of us. She taught me that crying was ok too..which is good as I blow my nose for the 17th time.

I love you, Mom. (Wish we could shopping at Kohl's today!