in honor of dear ol' mom

mom has started reading my blog. she seemed a bit huffy the other day when she told me that she had read some of my posts. then, after a few minutes, she said, "what, do you think i don't know fashion? because i made you wear this horrible white sweater with pink pants in the 3rd grade?"


mom is so funny. and i could tell a million funny stories about her. but she would get offended and think that i was making fun of her, when really i'm not. if i didn't love her dearly and think that she was the greatest mother on earth, i wouldn't bother even telling the stories. so i won't mention the words and sayings that she comes up with that we are pretty certain that she made up herself. and i won't talk about how silly she is with my girls, although that is one of the reasons they love her so much. but i will tell about the other things that make her great, in the hopes that she doesn't think i'm "making fun".



i was a momma's girl when i was little. i was devastated when i had to start kindergarten and leave her side, and i cried for weeks. but being a momma's girl was short-lived, and throughout my teen years, we most definitely clashed. i think maybe all girls go through that with their mothers, so i guess i better start preparing myself now. i never felt like i could talk to her about "stuff". i don't think it was so much her; maybe it was just my age or my own personality that made me feel like i couldn't talk to her. you know how you hear about girls who say that their mother is their best friend and they could talk to her about absolutely anything? that wasn't me.
i remember being embarrassed to tell her that i wanted to start wearing a bra. i think i wrote her a note or something. i don't remember talking to her about boys. or that dreaded 3 letter word that starts with an 's' and ends with an 'x'. and at 23, when i had to tell her that i was pregnant...unmarried and pregnant...it was just as difficult as if i were still a teenager.

but in the past 8 years, i've realized things about my mom that i never saw before. or perhaps i saw them but just didn't appreciate them. she's so completely fair with all of us girls. if she bought my lunch one day, she'd make sure she did something special for alecia and jennifer, too. she's funny. she's silly. certain aspects of my mothering style are a lot like hers, and i'm becoming more and more like her every day. i hope that my girls feel like they can talk to me about anything and everything as they get older. i'd like to be considered as the 'cool' mom. but if they feel they can't come to me, or if they think i'm totally uncool, i'll understand, because i was young once too. lately, i've found myself saying "oh my gosh, i'm becoming my mother" on more than one occasion. and you know what? that isn't a bad thing. not in the least.