Dear Mom,
You’re small but mighty. You’re a force to be reckoned with. You are a role model, and an inspiration. You are a survivor. You never give up. You were my very first hero.
I’ve learned a whole bunch through the years, and I’m quite sure I still have a ton to learn. This year, as you celebrate your first Mother’s Day without your own mom, the enormity of that is not lost on me. I just wanted to make sure you know that.
You raised three of the most different humans imaginable. And, yet, you did an awfully great job on each of us. That’s mostly because you did the best you could to give us what we needed. An impressive juggling act.
For years you told me “You’ll do more changing in your 20s than you ever did in your teens”. Truth. But, did you stop there so as not to scare me? The changing in my 30s- I still shake my head in amazement. And I’m quite sure now, half way to 50 – I’ll look back at 40-year-old me and find a stranger.
Nothing is easy. Nothing ever was. I remember.
Yet, I don’t remember a life couched in sadness or despair. I remember focus, drive, determination, and a whole lot of Never Give Up.
I remember a single mom who worked two jobs so we could have all that we needed, and lots that we wanted.
I remember you positioning us with your parents, so that right upstairs would be stellar role models. I know it must not have been easy. We don’t always agree with our parents. And, now, as a mom myself, I get how it might have been a challenge for you sometimes. But, I can tell you with confidence, it was right. Living downstairs from Grandma and Pop was a fantastic, life changing move. Thank you.
I remember the hours you worked, in the city all week, and then on your feet every holiday and every weekend, serving other people’s parties. I can only imagine how tired you must have been. Only now do I have a much better idea. And, I have a much better understanding of how you just kept going.
You made choices. You chose to keep us involved with all our families. You could have chosen differently. You had every right to. Thank you for choosing to allow me to choose.
You modeled for me, things I never knew I’d need.
And every day, as I dig deep to give everything I can to Meghan, I think of you.
You, and “The Little Engine that Could,” and Tinkerbell too.
Thank you for being tough as nails, and soft as a marshmallow at all the right times.
Thanks Mom, for the things I can put into words, and the things I can’t. Thanks for the stuff you just know, and the things in my heart.
Please know, no matter how old I get, or how busy you think I am, a call, or a visit, or even a text with my Mom brings a smile to my face.
Every. Single. Day.
Happy Mother’s Day.
Thank you for preparing me for #beatingcowdens, long before we had any idea of what was coming.
I love you forever.
I love you for always,
Lori
