A Girl's Never Too Old to Miss Her Mama!

My Mom and I at My Baptism

My mom is here visiting us for Thanksgiving and I couldn't be happier!  I am honestly giddy just to have her around!  When my mom and I don't see each other for a while, I miss her terribly.  Even though we talk to each other daily, somehow it just isn't the same as being in her presence.  I'm thankful for so many things this Thanksgiving and always, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention how thankful I am to have her here with us, especially as she helps us prepare for the arrival of our baby boy.  She is my best friend (after my sweet hubby, of course), the person I talk to about everything, and someone whom I have no idea how to live without.  I'm sure many people feel this way about their mothers or fathers or someone else in their lives, but I can only speak for myself here.  

It was just about a year ago that my mother was having a very difficult time with a heart condition that she's had for fifteen or so years and it really hit me for the first time that she may not, in fact, live forever as it had always seemed she would.  As I sat with my brother, two aunts, and a family friend, in a hospital waiting room, for her doctor to deliver some kind of news as to how her surgery was going, I realized that I would one day have to figure out how to do it all without her and it was one of the most terrifying realizations I'd ever made.  I spent that night with her in the hospital.  It was my first experience with sleeping, or not sleeping, in a hospital and I think it was also the first time I experienced what it means to really worry.  It isn't that I am dependent on her in any way, in fact, I've always been a very independent person and I've never been one to do as I'm told or take direction very well.  It is just that I've never had to experience anything without her overwhelming presence, support, or occasional disapproval before.  She thankfully made it out of surgery with flying colors and is doing wonderfully to date, but that experience was enough to make me think of things, of her, in a whole new light.

You see, my mother has always seemed sort of indestructible to me.  She is, by far, the strongest person I've ever met.  She can do anything and endure anything, or at least it seems that way.  She raised my brother and me pretty much all by herself and taught us how not to be resentful of the fact that she had to.  She is a problem-solver and a listener and a selfless giver and everything a "good" mother is supposed to be and then some.  I do not doubt that there is anything that she would not do for me or pretty much anyone else.  She has never disappointed me in any way that truly mattered and if she ever did, I'm certain it was or would be for my own good.  She is always ready to voice her opinion, even when I don't want it and she has always supported me in everything I have ever tried to accomplish.  She is my biggest fan.  She tries very hard to live an uncomplicated, drama-free life and even though that doesn't often work out, she makes the best of what she's been given with a joie de vivre (joy of life) of which I'm sure most people would envy.  As a good friend loves to remind me, I may not always have the best luck, but I definitely won the "mama lottery".

Mom, because I know you are reading this too, I love you and I'm thankful for you everyday!  You are the kind of mother I aspire to be!
  

My Mom and I Today