In Memory of my precious Mom ~Happy 59th Birthday

 Today...my mom, my precious mom, would have turned 59.  She died 4 years ago, in September, of lung, brain and breast cancer. It was a 7 month battle. She found out in February, right after being here for Alaina's 6th birthday, and a month before Paul Robert was born.

I miss her...it sounds small. It is such an understatement. It has been 4 painful years.
             My memories, our memories...of her, are many. and precious. But it still hurts. She was a part of our life, daily life, in so many ways. Even our children who barely knew her, or didn't get to know her, talk of her as if they did.

I miss...her loving all her grandkids,even when she didn't think she could love more than one.

I miss...her daily phone call to see what was for dinner.

              I miss her making me go to the mall the day after I had a baby, just to get it a beautiful new gymboree blanket and outfit...promising me I could just sit on the bench while she and the kids shopped and then calling me in the store to help pick out one.☺           

                          I miss all the special things she did for me as a child...making me coconut custard pie as an after-school snack...or orange julius's...or golden graham mix.

                                     ....for never letting me have the stomach flu alone, she was always by my side, rubbing my head, pulling back my hair (and I had the stomach flu *alot*).

                                             ......for tucking me in everynight (even as an adult when she would come to visit) and tucking all the sheets in the mattress once I was in bed like I was in an envelope (which I promptly undid when she left the room)

                                                    ....how she would have me sit at the kitchen table after school while she showed me all the things she got at the grocery store with double coupons that were free, or almost free.                     

  And how she told me to enunciate every morning as I headed out to the bus stop.

                                                                                      

She made each of my children feel like queen or king on their birthdays. Using all her vacation days to come for them. Letting them pick where they wanted to eat for lunch and dinner.

I miss some of the funny things she said...calling the kids "slackers" when they were slow with dishes....telling them it was time to "shake and move" to get us out the door sooner if we had somewhere to go. Looking at my large brood of kids, ages 8 and under and saying "come on guys, let's kick butt and take names". ☺

                    She may not have agreed with everything we did, or said, but she didn't let on. She loved us, accepted us and gave to us beyond generously...even when she wouldn't buy herself anything. It was how she was. She gave...and gave and gave.

                                                                       My children learned from her how to work hard, and not complain. How to get things really clean. How to be the most diligent employee an employer could ever have. How to give of yourself, even at the cost of self-sacrifice. How to love way beyond yourself, even when you think you can't.

                              She may be gone from our lives, but she left a legacy that none of us will forget. And memories for us to hold in our hearts and our hands. Blessed memories.                           

                                                   I love you Mom....