Honoring Mom

Mother's day is a reflective day for me. I love to remember my favorite childhood memories of/with my Mom and think of the ones I will create for my children. As the years pass, I forget more and more, which leaves me with a hole of saddness. Are you forgetting more with each passing year, too?

Here are just a few memories I have...

1. When she packed my lunch, she'd put little encouragement cards in it. These are little cards that she ordered from Current that said things like "You're a super star!" or "Have a great day!"
The other kids may have had PBJ, but I had these cards.

2. While I love to give her a hard time for my Tupperware lunch box, I secretly appreciated it. She'd change the stickers on it for each holiday. She would also freeze my tumbler of kool-aid, so when lunch arrived, I'd have a tumbler of kool-aid with a little ice cube. (The ice melted and kept the food cool until lunch) She also cut my sandwiches out with giant cookie-cutters so my sandwiches were flower-shaped.

3. Strawberry Poptarts, Starcrunches and homemade popsicles.

4. When she'd go out of town, she'd leave wrapped gifts on the table for me to open each day. The less gifts each day, the closer it was to arrival home. The gifts included Cabbage Patch pencils, erasers, and crayons.

5. My all-time favorite Christmas gift, a jean bag with spots on the front to hold 24 crayons. I once left this on the bus. I realized it after the bus left. I refused to go to class until the bus came back with my bag. Needless to say, I sat for two hours in the Principal's office getting in trouble, but sternly waiting for my bag.

6. She'd pack my Kindergarten snacks in a Tupperware container - cinnamon graham crackers - that she specially picked for my snack hour. All of the other kids were jealous.

7. She signed me out of class in the second grade to go to the fair for half of a day. She told me to tell everyone we were going to the doctors office. I'm pretty sure that my excitement boiled over and I spilled the beans. That was one of the best days ever!

8. She was the best homeroom mother of all time!

9. My fifth birthday. For some reason, no one came to my party that year - I don't know if it was the day it fell on or what - but she called her friend to come to the party. We had a Carebears cake from the grocery store (my grandmother usually made all of our cakes), punch and I received my "Mary Bear" - a stuffed bear I still have. I don't know what made it so fabulous, but it was and I still smile about that day.

10. All of my birthday parties/birthdays are something spectacular with Mom!

11. Saturday mornings with Mom - We'd run errands, clean the house, eat lunch out and just be together. For some reason, these days really stuck in my head as memories with Mom. I can still smell the cleaner with the windows open or remember the music that played or remember the feeling I had just being with her.

Thank you for the amazing memories Mom! Thank you for always asking "How are you?" when you may already know. Thank you for always putting me first and for always supporting me. I hope I can carry on the traditions and memories you have instilled in me. Thank you for truly caring about me, unconditionally.

Mom, you rock!