Mom. (Major Cheese Alert)

Today is my Mother's birthday. Mom is like Joe from Little Women - give her any task to do and she will put her whole heart into it and and will finish it quicker and better than you could have ever hoped for. She is seriously amazing at whatever she decides to do.

A few years ago my Dad had each of us kids write a little something about how much Mom means to us, and here is the super corny sonnet I wrote her. I do not profess any great bardic skills, though in my supreme moments of whimsy I have been known to wax poetic, and the sonnet style is my preferred victim of choice. Feel at liberty to mock away- I can take it ;)

So many things a Mother ought to be:
Supportive, patient, generous and sweet.
Strong roots She forms to grow a healthy tree,
Vast branches to provide a safe retreat.
Through your bright presence, I have witnessed each
Of these great gifts, though you may shake your head.
My place in Heaven would be within reach,
If I could better follow where you’ve led.
So blessed, I feel, to have you in my life;
You are so loving, virtuous and kind.
I know you’re there, through any form of strife;
A truer friend and guide I’ll never find.
With perfect faith that we met up above,
I have no thoughts for you but thoughts of love.

Mom, you really are amazing and I cannot wait for you guys to come home this summer so that we can play, play, play! Love you! Give Hunter (and the Pres, for that matter) a swift kick in the bum for me if they don't appreciate you today! Also, one last thing, in case you aren't embarrassed enough yet- I figure it's still three months until you guys get home, so that is enough time to forgive me. Hey! I posted my cheesy poem, so its you and me both, lady ;) Here are a couple, though sadly not high quality, song recording of Mom playing the lead in South Pacific- this was a community theater show while she was in California before she met my Dad (they were married in November of '79), so I guess this was somewhere in the 1978 to 1979 range ;) Didn't I say she was amazing?

I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair

Honey Bun

Not only did my Mother provide me with an appreciation of music and theater, but also of reading. (We enjoy so many of the same genres and authors and it will be a lot cheaper to book swap when you get home and I don't have to keep mailing things to Africa with the hopes that I will see them again!) Mom loves mysteries and has quite the collection to prove it, and what is a mystery collection without the brilliant Agatha Christie? I remember a lot of the Agatha series' were turned into TV shows and we would watch them all on Masterpiece Theater. Just watching this intro makes me sentimental and happy (images by the hilariously morbid (and appropriately named) artist, Edward Gorey):

So Mom, here's to the memories we've made and the future memories we've yet to make, but mostly here's to you. I really do love you. Happy birthday.