Today Is Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to any mothers who are reading this, or women who are mothery-types.  Yes, I made up that word "mothery".  It's not real. 

I am so so so so so blessed to have my mom with me to celebrate this day, as well as my grandmother, who will be 85 this summer.  I give my mom all the credit for any measly parenting skills I may have developed.  My mom is so awesome, words can't describe it.  Nevertheless, I'll try.  She is really calm and patient.  She is very understanding and empathetic, and she always knows just what to say to me to make me feel better about absolutely anything.  She is also really funny, crafty, and a great writer.  A lot of people don't know it but my mom was once a published (poems) writer.  She let Karina play with a bunch of her dollar store notebooks (my mom and I both seem to collect notebooks and she has tons.  She writes in hers, though!) and Karina brought some home.  One day we realized Mom had been keeping a log, briefly, in one about rabbits in the yard.  Even that was written very poetically.  She just has a way with words.  She raised me and my brother single-handedly, in spite of our unusual living conditions and having really barely any money for stuff.  I have probably mentioned before, but for any new readers out there, I'll explain.  My parents divorced when I was five and David was 2, and after leaving our house to move into these nasty apartments, my grandparents decided we should all move in with them.  So we did, and that's where I grew up.  My mom still lives there, and has never remarried.  She is now beginning to care for my grandmother, who as I mentioned, is getting old.  My mom gave up everything so David and I could have happy lives.  We never knew until we were older that my grandparents would buy groceries for us.  We never knew that living with my grandparents was because we were too poor to live any other way.  And we never knew how much my mom hurt from the divorce until many, many years later.  My mom is amazing. 

My grandmother is pretty awesome, too.  She met my grandfather in Scotland during the war, went on 3 dates with him, and then married him.  She was 18.  When she was 19, she was finally cleared to come over to the US, and did so on the Queen Mary (ship) by herself.  It was a 2-week voyage.  Amazing.  She didn't go home for 20 years.  She left school when she was 14, because that's what you did if you were poor in Scotland back then, and she went to work.  Despite having much less education than many fortunate people, she was very smart, learned quickly, and got a job as a secretary at the school I attended for elementary and middle school.  I don't know what, if any, jobs she had before that.  She worked there until she retired, at which point the rest of the office staff realized how much work she had been doing and promptly hired two people to replace her.  My grandmother, who I call Nana, has always been strong-willed and strong in general.  As she's gotten older, this quality has faded, quite a bit in some ways.  It's been pretty sad to watch this happen, although she is still in phenomenal health and can legitimately complain only about arthritis!  Despite this, she is still funny and witty and still cooks dinner for my mom, and for all of us on Wednesday nights when I take Karina over there. 

There are other mother figures in my life, who I won't go into detail about because let's face it, that's just too much.  But I will name them:  my Aunt Betty, Danise-my best friend and a more contemporary model for me of a wonderful parent, Kelly, teachers, Wendy a former youth advisor from when I was in youth group, and I'm sure many others who have influenced me in countless ways.  Plus, I have Karina, who is so awesome, I still don't know how I ever wound up with her as my child. 

I am one lucky mother. 

Happy Mother's Day to all of you, once again.  I hope that today you will not only take time to be appreciated, but also to think about and appreciate other women in your lives who helped you be the wonderful moms you are now.