It’s 1984 and I am standing at the top of the staircase leading to the basement in my parents home holding my mothers hand. The stairs at that time were uncarpeted, just the bare wood from construction a few years earlier. I wanted to walk down the stairs by myself but my mother held hard to my hand insisting that she help me, I was only three years old. There was only a small banister nailed to the wall and my mom wanted to help me down the stairs. But me, being the independent person I am, yelled “do it SELF” as I pulled my hand away from hers with such a force that I ended up throwing myself down the entire staircase, falling flat on the landing below. I wore bangs for many years afterward because my mother swore that I had an egg on my forehead for years that she wanted to cover up. I don’t know…I think it was an unfortunate coincidence. There are many more stories where do it self makes an appearance but this blog post is already going to be too long. So, I just wanted to say to you mom, that I think I have made a pretty good case for do it self despite my early pitfalls…don’t you think? :)
So, on mother’s day, I thought I would put out a tiny thank you to my mom, who is not often mentioned on the blog, but is definitely my biggest (and loudest) cheerleader in life. My mom always told me to say what I thought, to be who I am (perhaps because I was already marching to the beat of my own drum), and to go in the direction I wanted. (I’m betting that now she wishes she could take back some of that advice—because I am certainly her most determined and loudest child.) To never apologize if I wasn’t wrong, to always be kind to everyone around me (because they had a story too), and to stand behind my choices. I am definitely that person because of her constant support and unending love. I tease her for all of her eccentric qualities—most that will not be mentioned in this blog post—but I appreciate her ability to be who she is and to never apologize for it.
Mom, I wrote this post about ten times trying to find the right thing to say to you but it kept falling short of what I really want to say. So, I’m just going to say that I love you to pieces, even all the times I don’t say thank you for all that do and all that you did, I notice it and I appreciate it. Mwah!
And here we are (and my sister too, who is also a fabulous mother). It was realllllly hard to find photos because she hates being in front of the camera but I found a couple gems…and made her take a few today at brunch. ;)
