Happy Mother’s Day to all you mom’s out there. It’s our weekend, it’s our day. I’ll get a package from my daughter today or tomorrow. She is the one who NEVER forgets Mother’s Day and around 8:30 Sunday night, I’ll probably hear from my son. It’s amazing how different daughters and sons are. Both love you completely, but express it much differently. It has been my honor to be their mother. I usually feel I should be celebrating them on this day instead of the focus being on me. They are the two things in my life I would never change and I love them to the depths of my soul. Mushy huh. See, too emotional again.

From the time I was a very little girl, I always knew I wanted to be a mom. Every Christmas I would ask Santa for a baby doll, and every year I got one. I loved being mommy to those little dolls in the hopes of some day being a “real” mom. God granted me my wish with Loni and Craig. It took God a while longer to grant my wish for the right husband, but he did get it right with my children.

I had a great role model in my own mother. She was always so patient, calm and loving. In many ways, I am very similar to her and in other ways, I am very different. I had different things to contend with as a young mother, which molded and shaped my very psyche. For a big chunk of my children’s young lives, I was a single mother. But I had the love and support of my mother through some very difficult times and my children were the sole reason I survived. They were my very reason for getting up every morning and the reason I worked so hard to make sure they had what they needed. I couldn’t wait to see them every day after work and go with them to all their school functions. I miss sitting in bleachers watching baseball game after baseball game, softball game after softball game. I miss watching them bowl in league. I miss our trips to Six Flags. I miss sitting through school plays, high school basketball games just to watch my daughter cheer. I miss shopping for that perfect little Easter dress. I miss Easter baskets, the tooth fairy, Santa Clause, skinned knees, kisses & hugs from little arms. I miss it all, well almost all. I don’t miss poopy diapers, vomiting, messy rooms, dirty laundry, temper tantrums, missed curfews (you know who you are), sibling fights, snotty noses and dirty feet.

My daughter now has a family of her own and I love watching her be a mom. She is a stay at home mom. Now there is good and bad in that. It’s great to be with your kids every day, to watch them grow and mold their little minds. It’s also difficult to be with your kids every day, never having time for yourself, only having conversations with small people who argue with you about everything. I am not sure I could have done that in my 20’s when I had small children. You know that old saying, what goes around comes around? I am just sitting back and watching as my daughter lives that with her two kiddos. It’s humorous and I love it.

My son will be 26 this year. No wife, no girlfriend, what’s going on? I kid him about it all the time. It’s probably good that he’s single right now, but a mother can dream of the perfect girl to come along and take him off my hands.   Hahahah. Hope he doesn’t read this. I’m kidding Craig. I think it may actually be difficult for me when that day comes. He will be the first to tell you that he is a momma’s boy. He has been very protective of me growing up and he’s always been there for me. He would go with me to the movies, out to dinner, shopping or just hang out at the house growing up. From the time he was 10 to about 16, I didn’t date and he didn’t want me to be lonely. How sweet is that? So whoever comes along and wants to own my son’s heart is going to have to be a very special young lady.

So as I think about my own mom this weekend and our relationship, I am also celebrating being a mom too. It is truly the best job in the world. Happy Mother’s Day.