My Mom

My mom just came to visit from Idaho this past week and ever since she left, I havent been able to stop feeling sad.  It was just such a great visit, probably one of the best times I have had with my Mother in my adult life.  I am lucky to have such a fun Mom.  I am not the best writer, but I am really good at making lists.  So while my emotions are still fresh from her visit, I want to list everything I love about my Mom so that she knows it and so I can always look back and remember them.

1. She is fun.  Because of her, I already force my own children to turn the music up and sing and dance.  Even though I am sure I look like a fool, just like my Mom did, I remember how much fun it was even though we always tried to act like it was stupid.  

2. She spoils us in a way that she was never able to do when we were kids.  I mentioned while we were getting ready for Stockton's birthday party that I wish I had more cute, stylish serving dishes.  So when we went to Ross to return something, she bought me almost $100 worth of serving dishes.  At Ross, you can get ALOT for $100!  Now every time I use them I will think of her.

3. She lets me be myself.  She let me go through every single throw pillow at Ross for about an hour and told me that she liked everyone even though I am sure my indecisiveness was annoying.  She is always supportive about little things like that. When I told her the plans for Stockton's birthday party, rather than trying to do things the way she thought was best, she just helped me make sure everything was done the way I wanted it.  And was just there to help and support.

4.  She taught me to believe in fairies and all magical things.  That may sound weird, but I am glad that I was encouraged to believe in Unicorns and given the impression that Mother Nature was actually a real person that made everything on the earth grow and be beautiful.  I am glad that she bought my son an animal that when his Dad tells him it is a horse with wings, I can tell him matter of factly, it is actually a Pegasus.  And then hope that he believes it actually exists somewhere in a land faraway.   

5.  She loves Troy.  I can tell that she genuinely cares about Troy and she treats him the same way she treats her own children.  And it seems like she does this with all of her sons and daughter in laws.  

6.  She is the best Weema.  I have never seen any sign that she loves any of her grandkids more than the rest.  She treats them ALL like they are her very favorite and I really think all of them are.  She spoils them even more than she does the rest of us.  And she is so good at playing with them.  It was touching to see the way she gets down on Stocktons level to play with him and how much they both seemed to enjoy it.  And she also spoils them more than her own kids.  She seriously supplied Logan with his entire newborn wardrobe and she is constantly buying them things here and there just because she wants to. 

7.  She is strong.  She has been through alot in her life.  She has experienced alot heartache, betrayal, and loneliness.  But she has learned how to be happy with herself and not let her past experiences affect the person she is today.  

8.  She loves me.  Our childhood was far from picture perfect.  And she didnt do everything the way I wanted when we were kids, but I always knew without a shadow of a doubt that she loved me.  And now that I am a parent, that is what I want my own children to know everyday, how much I love them.  My Mom did that for me and I hope my kids will feel that same love from their Mother. 

Hopefully she will be back soon for another visit.  And maybe the smell of lavender will linger in the air until she comes back, then it will feel like she never left.