Tribute to My Mom

Her children arise and call her blessed... Proverbs 31:28

Dear Mom, Giggy, and Cantankerous Mother-in-law,

As we thought of ways to honor you on Mother's Day we decided to pay a little tribute to you here on my blog to let you know how special you are to us and the wonderful ways you touch our lives.

When we got together to brainstorm what should be said, one word was unanimously at the top of our lists: Laughter! Baby Girl does a classic rendition of you hysterically laughing with no sound coming out and your feet kicking in the air. Isn't that just how you want to be remembered? We agreed that a funnier mom and grandma doesn't exist on the earth. I'll never forget when John went through his phase of always saying, "Your mother wears army boots!" and sure enough he came downstairs one morning and there you were cooking breakfast in a pair of army boots! What a wonderful heritage of joy you've given us!

The second thing we all agreed on is that you feed us way too much wonderful food. Baby Girl said she appreciates the time you made a huge Christmas dinner for us on Thanksgiving, the sausage balls on Christmas morning, the sugary breakfast cereals, snacking between meals and the way you keep their secret stashes of special treats well stocked. John credits you with his inability to lose weight. I appreciate that you are Martha Stewart minus the jail term as evidenced by the picture below. You've got that gourmet entertaining thing going on! (I didn't get that gene!)

All that talent, but wait, there's more! You sing, you dance, you play the piano by ear! (Are you sure I'm not adopted?) We love that fun, enthusiastic spirit. I tell people that my parents like to play dress up. Remember being Elvis and Priscilla? And the time you showed up in Tennessee on a motorcycle wearing "Hee Haw" overalls with chickens all over them- and you even brought some for us too! Grandpa in dredlocks, you in all of your light up pins, and the times the kids and I waited at the airport keeping a lookout for a woman dressed in bright Hawaiian looking clothes, regardless of the season. How many other grandparents do you know that keep boxes of costumes in their closets? And how many other grandmothers have enough bling to deck out Hollywood? Remember when Baby Girl would sit for hours just sorting through your bling?

Techie Boy says you're always willing to play games. Kismet. Chicken Foot (You're big on chicken aren't you, Mom?). Sequence. Pit. Mexican Dominoes. The list goes on and on. And nobody can add numbers in their head as fast as you can do it (I'm pretty sure now that I'm adopted).

What holiday passes that you don't send gifts, cards, calls or some sort of something to let us know that you're thinking about us? Techie Boy says that you always remind us that you love us and indeed you do with words and actions and lots and lots of hugs and kisses. We know we mean something, possibly everything, to you!

So with this we tell you that we love you and appreciate you and hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day! Wish you could be here. Oh, and we did want to pass along one more tidbit of information. If you should pass away before we do, we will take the cellophane off of that Big Chicken game that you hide in the closet and we will play it no matter how much it might be worth in the future in it's original cellophane! Bless your little chicken-loving heart.