Happy Mother's Day to my Mommy

Mom, I know that you are semi-irritated at me before even reading this. I know you don't like getting your picture taken, let alone having it posted for all of blogland. However, I hope that by the end of this post you'll forgive me.

Thank you for being such an amazing, "Nonni" to my babies. You show love, patience and joy towards them every time you see them. You know when to laugh at them, and when to tell them to reign it in and behave.

Thank you for all the times you've reminded me that love is a decision. That no matter what the situation, you choose how you are going to feel about it and how you are going to respond towards it. You've shown me that you can love and like someone, and even when you don't like them, you still can love them.

Thank you for the way you showed me many times that in life, you just need to roll with it. When you have a house full of sick kids, and a newborn baby too...instant slumber party in the living room. Getting mad and irritated and overwhelmed, while all valid in and of themselves makes for a disaster when combined and will lead you nowhere.

Thank you for all the stories you told me, and still do, about you and Daddy and your courtship. How you thought on more than one occasion that you were going to meet your maker due to his crazyness. How you two made plans, and you loved, and you looked forward to the future.

Thank you for showing me what a true blessing we as mothers have in that we get to grow our babies. How pregnancy was hard, but it wasn't something to be scared of. Labor was worth it, our bodies could do it, and you showed me and I watched in awe. Then you held my hand when I was in the midst of the worst and looked me in the eyes and told me, "It's ok, look at me, you can do it, breathe".

Thank you for telling me, and modeling to me, that our past doesn't predict our future.

Thank you for showing us that you loved your dying mother enough to drag all four of your kids up and down the state to fulfill her wish of an "ultimate vacation" with us. Thank you for loving us enough to give us that last big vacation with her while she was able and for all the memories.

Thank you for the camping trips and beach drives and McDonald's runs and park days and ice cream trucks. Thank you for the way you loved us without spoiling us.

Thank you for not accepting what you knew many would just accept. You showed me that we are not victims in our life, but we are survivors. Thank you for fighting for each of us in different ways, but in ways that each of us needed you to.

Thank you for protecting us. Thank you for caring for your babies and all of their needs. From collic to croop to bacterial menengitis to sleep apnea to broken bones to autism. For enduring the tests and the scares and the beeping alarms. Thank you for the prayers to God begging Him to let you keep your babies just a little bit longer. They worked.

Thank you for showing us how important God was. For scrubbing toilets when you were 8 months pregnant so we could attend our perochial school. For volunteering for church plays and VBS. For regular early Sunday morning rituals and ironing clothes and crying kids and brushing hair and getting out the door for church. For making sure we prayed before eating and before sleeping. For getting us bibles and CD's and movies that promoted Christian values. For making sure that we wern't fed spiritual junk.

Thank you for wearing the same three outfits over and over so we could look our best. For wearing the same glasses for 15 years so we could have that money for other things, for us. For sacrificing creature comforts because you'd rather spend the money other things, for us. For driving, "Mechanic's Special's" for cars and not caring about labels. For having perspective and remembering the big picture, and in the end if we didn't have Guess jeans we wouldn't die.

Thank you for all you've done, and for all the ways you've loved, and for all the ways you've served. Thank you for your prayers, and your advice, and your encouragement and for the swift kicks as needed. Thank you for your sacrifices and your tears and your realizations and your commitment. Thank you for your friendship. I love you, Happy Mother's Day.

"It is not that you have chosen me; but it is I who have chosen you. I have appointed you to go and bear fruit that will be lasting."~ John 15:16 ~