to your mother

THOUGHTS ABOUT BEING A MOTHER AND LOVING A MOTHER...FROM A MOTHER OF TWO.







Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Mom Turns 80, Yup You Heard it Right

Mom was born January 13, 1935...80 years ago today.  At some point I'd like to blog about Mom's life but tonight, just a small tribute.
 
Mike, the kids and I celebrated with Mom and Dad last Saturday.  We had a seafood feast...including a crab cake decked out with a candle.
It was a relaxing day filled with good food and some lovin'.




Today, Mom and Dad's house was filled with the smells of good food and the laughter of a gaggle of German Baptist women who have become dear friends with Mom over the past 8 years. Those ladies, who cook, grocery shop, share recipes and home canned goods, clean, facilitate physical therapy, pay bills, sew, pick Mom up off the floor, get birds out of the house, do stand up comedy, and truly love Mom and Dad, are a true blessing to our family.

I called Mom today mid morning to wish her a Happy Birthday.  She got on the phone, I sang to her (as she did every year to me after I had moved away from home...now I call her on my birthday and get her started on the song and she belts it out on her own) and her response was this...









Dead silence. No typical giggle or gut wrenching laughter or "I know!". Nothing.

I said, "Mom are you mad that I reminded you that it's your birthday?" (She has never cared for the day)

She replied with a short, snarky "yes".

I said, "Whoopsie Mom, I emailed over 50 people to remind them that today is your 80th birthday...better prepare yourself for a day of disappointment."

This got the gut wrenching laughter and an "Oh My!"

Today, thanks to a lot of you, Mom celebrated her 80th birthday with phone calls, pictures, gifts, flowers, cards, laughter, and fond memories of friends and family from over the years. Thank you for reaching out and lovin' my mama on her special day (even if she hated it :)

And hey, no worries if you haven't gotten round to sending your love yet, it's better to spread out her birthday disappointment anyway.

STAY TUNED: Update on Mom's health coming soon

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Yesterday Was A

SNOW DAY!!!!!
 


There was much joy to be had at our household yesterday.
 
 
Luckily Santa had brought some actual sleds this year so the minions didn't have to use aluminum roasting pans or old cardboard boxes (true story). 



 
Some other joy was Mike, after long hours of research, bidding, delivering and attaching, being able to use his tricked out John Deere.  
 After plowing five rural driveways, Mike settled into his barkalounger with some hot cocoa and was amazed at the time...only one hour had passed since he had gone out to plow.  Used to take him an hour just to do our drive with the front end loader.
 
 
Of course Julie had to stop him on his way back up the drive to let him know Joe was doing something he wasn't suppose to...story of our lives.


Nice rig, huh?


While out for their third time yesterday, Julie honed her skills in belly sledding...
 
1. Get that sled steady.


2. Caaaaarefully position yourself over the center of the sled.


3. Plop down and let 'er rip.
 
I must say I've never really leaned one way or another about whether I like cold or hot weather...I just kind of go with the flow cause there is not much I can do about it.  Don't get me wrong, I complain, but in my mind I haven't really leaned one way or the other...except this morning...when the wind chill was 9 degrees F...good googamooga this Mama like warm sunny days.  You know it's bad when 2 lil minions are whining to go out sledding until they crack open the front door to say "Let's just watch a movie instead." It's bad, people, BAD.
 
 
Stayed tuned for the next post: Mom Will Turn 80!