So Mom…you did it.
You traveled around the sun 80 times!
I know…I’ve used that line before.
But it is pretty amazing when you think about it.
I also know you’re not crazy about this whole “80 years old* thing
but look at it from our eyes…
our mom is 80!
She’s every bit as beautiful as she always was.
She created a wonderful life for us growing up and she still has a wonderful life,
full of people who love her.
We’re pretty blessed Mom,
so we want to CELEBRATE this with you
Okay…but where to start… Do I make this funny or sentimental,
which is the way I’ve been feeling these past few months?
You deserve it all so here goes…
Mom, you have been the center of my world for so long and
I can’t imagine a world without you in it.
I know you’ll always be in my heart but still…
I need more...or maybe I should say I want more:)
Even with a family of my own,
yours is still the voice I often hear in my head.
Maybe that’s how it goes.
Maybe my voice will stick with my girls.
(poor girls)
(poor girls)
Life is so busy for me these days and the only regret I have with that is
it means I can’t spend as much time with you…
but stick around because the days are going fast
and I’ll soon have more time than I'll know what to do with.
But I’m so grateful for the time we spent together while I was growing up.
Especially in high school...
now how many kids can say that?
Especially in high school...
now how many kids can say that?
Lucky me, being the youngest.
So many of my memories revolve around you and YOUR friends,
something I wouldn’t trade for anything.
I think that’s why,
when people ask that dumb question about socialization
and my girls because they are home schooled,
I just want to tell them they’re crazy.
Besides the fact that they live VERY full, busy lives…
they are totally comfortable with people of ALL ages and find fun in
spending time with adults as well as other teens.
That’s how it was with me.
I can’t drive past Tuttle Rd. in Sarasota without thinking about Mary Ella,
(Tuttle or Turtle??)
(Tuttle or Turtle??)
I can’t hear “Everything is Beautiful” without thinking about Emery,
can’t eat Marshmallow topping without thinking about that messy sundae
Doris W. ate at Howard Johnsons!
And every single time I walk in a dollar store, (which is often:)
I think of the time when they first opened and were called
I think of the time when they first opened and were called
“Everything’s a Dollar”.
You walked up to the guy and asked how much something cost
and the whole store screamed out
“Everything’s a Dollar”! haha…
And I never knew you came home and messed with your own hair.
I do that too!
I come home,
get out the scissors and give myself the cut I wanted in the first place.
Must’ve seen you do it!
One of my favorite memories involved my friends,
who absolutely LOVED you, by the way.
You must have been one of the first "Cool Moms"!
One night, we realized they “teepee’d” the front yard.
You must have been one of the first "Cool Moms"!
Thinking we were lucky to see it before we went to bed,
you and I went out and cleaned it up before the morning dew.
Smart, huh?
Then when we went in the family room,
we saw they had done the backyard too.
Out we went to clean it.
Finally we were done.
Then Dad looks out the window and tells us they did the front yard again.
Huh???
While we were cleaning the back yard, they were out front doing it again! hahaha
We laughed so hard.
How dumb were we?
I had great friends from church…
my best friends, other than a few at school...
and my mom.
and my mom.
Thank you for steering me towards my youth group instead of school.
I can’t think of a single memory of school that means anything to me
but I have a truckload from church and to me,
that’s as it should be.
(even though my friends and I did manage to go through
a bunch of different youth directors.
Did anyone stop to think it might have been us and not them?:)
And can you explain how you let us put pennies on the train track
when we heard it coming and then back away while
it flattened our pennies at Otsego with Bowmans?
I mean, I had to be about 8 or so, right?
hahaha…but we survived to tell about it.
Good times...
Yep…it’s definitely the little things that in the end are
really the big things.
You did a lot of little things for me…for us…
and have no idea how “big” they really were.
They still are!
Especially after this past year,
I have never been more grateful for those little things.
I remember crying while telling you of my test results and you said
“Oh Suzy, I’m old. I wish I could take it from you”.
Yes, that made me cry even more…
it still does…but that’s a mother’s love for you.
The cards and emails to cheer me up,
the few dollars tucked in an envelope to treat myself to
Starbucks or ice cream.
I know that you are there, that you care,
that you worry and that you pray.
I know when you are on your knees at night,
you pray for me, for my girls, for every single one of us. Thank you Mom.
Thank you for caring.
Thank you for praying.
Thank you for loving.
Thank you for being our Mom….
our Mother…
our Mommy.
I love you.
Happy Birthday.
Hi Sweetness! I haven't visited you in a coon's age. Well now I can see where you got your beauty; both inner and outer. Your Mother is gorgeous and you look just like her. She also looks like the sweetest person; caring and loving. Celebrate her each and every day. I still miss my Mama and she died in 1988 at the age of 62. Come visit!
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