Sunday, May 10, 2009

Happy Mother's Day Mom.

I love my mom. Yes, I know, most do, but I happen to know many who don't.. so I have to acknowledge the fact that I think my mom is pretty awesome.

My mom is a lovely little woman. She's very cute. She's Irish and Scottish and very Catholic. She used to be a nurse before I was born.. then stayed home to raise three girls. She was not the type of mom to raise a hand to her children (that was still okay then... remember, I'm old..) but she broke plenty of wooden spoons on the kitchen counter illustrating her point.

My mother is nice. Like, really really nice. Rarely says a bad word about anyone .. and if she does, you know they really deserve it. I am really not too sure where I get my obvious mean streak from. She's "Switzerland".. if any of the sisters get into a fight, she stays out of it.. as much as she can. Mom also had this habit of never ever criticizing a boyfriend.. not to say we brought home a stellar bunch.. on the contrary. If she DIDN'T like the guy, she'd FOR SURE keep her mouth shut. She always figured she'd either drive us closer or if we had a fight with the guy and she called buddy names.. what if we got back together.. then we'd be mad at her, not him. Smart lady.

My mother is also super funny.. she laughs easily and is quick to kid. My sister and I tend to mock our mother a lot. In high school, we had our friends convinced that our mother worked at the strip club under the name "Fat Fanny Farkle". Our friends also somehow thought our mother was an Italian woman dressed all in black with a tray of sandwiches. We are a misleading bunch.

The funniest thing my mother ever said was when my daughter was about 3 and had taken her diaper off and was running around.. my father said "nice girls don't run around with their pants off... " and my little Catholic mother said "that's not what he told me..." That STILL makes me laugh!

One of the things I love most about my mom is that I think she taught me how to be a good mom.. at least I think I'm a pretty decent mom...my kids ARE still speaking to me although I've yet to see my breakfast in bed. (Note: I hate breakfast in bed. Coffee - OK.. toast and stuff. messy. I can live without it.)

When I was about 4 I remember thinking I wanted to do something nice for my mom so I decided to bake her a cake. I quietly went into the kitchen at 6am and combined OXO bouillion cubes, water, Nestle's Quik and other magical ingredients to somehow miraculously congeal into a delcious chocolate cake. Apparently I was not as stealth as I thought, as my mother came in and was "very cross" (that's my mom's expression) with me for waking people up and making a mess. I had to go sit in my room. I was horribly unimpressed with my mother, for whom I was merely trying to do something special.

Flash forward about 25 years later and my beautiful daughter is toddling about. I was talking on the phone with someone.. until I noticed a great quantity of Comet cleanser running all the way up the stairs.. and into the bathroom. Where I found my precious looking ever so proud of herself for "helping". An entire jumbo can of cleanser.. wasted. However, I didn't get mad... because I "got" it. I knew she thought she had done something good.

Mind you, flash forward another 5 years and my lovely young son is about 4.... and has been warned to not eat on the couch. The brand new beautiful couch which I've had for about a month. So of course I'm off doing something and return to find my son "cleaning" the couch with Fantastik Bleach Cleaner... he had spilled milk. The couch was ruined. And I lost it. I was soooo upset. I still feel badly for my initial reaction.. I finally had to go upstairs and leave the room until I calmed down. Sure, I had a right to be upset... but... it was just a couch. I'm still embarassed for getting as upset as I did. It was .. and still is.. just a couch. It now just sports a decorative throw ...

On many occasions, as a mother, I've asked myself what my mother would do. Sure, you ask yourself.. she can't be THAT great, after all, what happened to you? Well, I will reassure you that she not only tried her best, but my sisters are upstanding pillars of society and terrific moms as well. I'm just the black sheep. But I'm sure you guessed that.

My mom and I didn't get along for a while when I was about 19. I came home from the bar (on the bus) and we had a fight.. one of those "my house my rules" kind of things. I was 19 and thought I knew everything. My mom came home after shopping the next day and I was gone. Moved out. And didn't tell her where I was for a week. But the time I lived away from home I learned to appreciate my mom.. and she learned to appreciate me too. By the time I moved back.. we got along great.

When I got my first full time job, that Christmas I bought my mom a birthstone ring. I just wanted to get her something really nice for everything I'd put her through (there is far too much to go into here, but let's just leave it at rowdy teenage behaviour including boyfriend crap, drinking, getting suspended and causing my poor mother undue heartache. There was no jail time. Enough said.)

My mom and I used to spend a day a week together.. hanging out.. lunching. But, then I moved away.. got married, had kids. And we never seem to see each other enough, but we have some great phone conversations. She is ALWAYS there for me.. through moving, job loss, marriage, childbirth, divorce, moving, job loss.. more moving.. never ends. I know my little Irish Catholic mother prays for me .. and all her family every night.. and if anyone's prayers are going to be heard, they will be my mom's.

My daughter is now 19.. and thankfully.. we get along. It hasn't always been that way.. we certainly have our moments. My son will be 14 soon. And we've pretty much always gotten along. My kids are very smart, talented and good looking (if I do say so myself). They are respectful to others, kind, helpful, lovely kids. I'm proud of them. They make it easy to love being a mom. And I think that at least part of the reason they are, is that I learned to be a pretty good mother from my mother.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom. I love you. xoxoxox

p.s. Yes, me and my children also turned out so great because of my father and my childrens' father. Father's Day isn't till June. They'll have to wait for the glory. Sheesh.

Life: Shoot. Just thought of something.. now I have to let my mom read the blog today. Uhoh.
Love: I love my mom. She is pretty cool.
Pants: I did not get my mother pants for Mother's Day. Shhhh!

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