Mom

I have a new friend. Her name is Wendy, and seriously...you should run, not walk, over to her blog. If you, like myself, feel like a "Totally Desperate Mom" sometimes....you will love this girl. She is the real thing, and she pulls no punches when she writes. Also--it does not hurt that she knows Paul Walker. 

She inspired the idea behind this post--I hope you'll enjoy it, but really, it was only meant to be truly meaningful to one person in my life.

{I love you Mom/Momma/Mommy/MJ/Grandma Jane/and the lady "who is my mother not my sister", thankyouverymuch.)


1. What is your best childhood memory with your mom?

There are so many that this one is truly difficult to answer--but I remember loving the times when my mom would pick me up at the airport. 

When I was two years old, my mom and dad divorced.  My dad remarried when I was almost four (a wonderful lady who has been the greatest stepmom I could have asked for, truly.)  From the time I was almost 6, I began flying out to New Jersey to visit my dad and Amy.  I remember loving being out there with them--the people talked funny, there were cool stores and an ocean there, and I got to see family that I didn't see but a month or two out of the whole year--but there was nothing like that feeling of flying home, stepping off the plane, and seeing my mom waiting for me.  I remember her being prettier than I remember every time! 

2. Did you ever make your mom cry because you were so unruly or disobedient?

Though I can't remember a lot of times when my mom would sit and cry because I was being so bad (I'm sure she probably did it a lot in private, LOL), I do specifically remember that, when things got really tense (mostly in my teenage angst-filled years), I would say things along the lines of "I want to go and live with my Dad." That, looking back, was really hurtful to her, I know...I regret it and I'm terribly ashamed of it.  *boo*

Sorry for that, Mom. You didn't deserve to be treated that way.

However, on the flip side--I do remember her telling me (when I was being especially disobedient) that she was going to call my father, and he would "shake a knot in your tail!" Now, I had no idea what it meant to have a knot shaken in my tail--but it sounded painful, and I knew I'd better cool it when it reached that point.  (Luckily, I never had to find out.....)

3. Do you remember any of the special things your mom did for you?

This is going to sound like a really silly answer--because my mom did so many special things that it would take a novel to fill them all and I am picking this one--but, I remember as a little girl my mom would take me shopping with her to K-Mart, our big store in town at the time. 

Now, K-Mart had an Icee machine.  My mom, who had very little money to go around, would always stop first thing and allow me to get a small cherry Icee.  I remember the special rounded lid they put on so the cup could fill up more, how the machine squirted funny when they would pull the lever do get the drink out, and how I used to sip really slowly (to hopefully make it last longer....) 

Those crazy red Icee's made a very big impact on this little girl.  I believe, truthfully, the reason it did had to do with a form of sacrifice.  It may have only been a dollar, but I knew we didn't have a lot--and for her to get me that Icee, spending some of what little money she had on something that was not a necessity--impacted me as to how unselfish she was.  Even from the time I was 5 or 6 years old, I got that.

4. Did she teach you anything really significant?

Selflessness.  If there is a person in the world who is less selfless when it comes to her children and grandbabies, I think it would be an outstanding feat to find her.  We still joke that she didn't do a very good job teaching me--that I am, to this day, way more selfish than she is--but she couldn't have modeled it any better.

I love you mostest,

I love you bestest,

LOVE YOU!!

Happy Mother's Day from your not-always-showing-it-but-always-in-my-heart-beyond-grateful daughter,
Dev