My mother, my friend

Well, today is my mom's birthday! I'm so sad to say that she and I don't have a recent picture together. :( So, I'll do the next best thing...Nana and Emma.

I just love my mom. She is my mother and my best friend. As I have eluded in the past, we didn't always see eye to eye. We certainly went through a really rough period of butting heads during my late teenage years. Much time has passed, though, and God has restored our relationship tenfold. And I am so grateful.

Before I had kids, I always knew I wanted to be a stay at home mom...like my mom was. Thinking back on my childhood, I have such fond memories of my mom always being there. Coming home from school and getting off of the school bus, who was waiting on me...Mom. Going to the nurse's office at school because I was sick and needing to go home...who came right away to get me...Mom. Later, when we moved to Oklahoma and I hated it so...who was there to comfort me...Mom (and Dad, really :).She has always been there.

Flash forward many years to when I became a mom. Who was there with me, every single day, those first couple weeks after Robert went to work and I was trying to learn this whole motherhood thing...Mom. I honestly don't know what I would have done those first few weeks without her reassurance that I could, in fact, do this motherhood thing. I remember that just her being there with me was all I really needed....and she was there.

As the years continue to pass and I understand more and more everything she did for me, seen and unseen, and continues to do even today, my love and gratitude for her deepens more and more. I cherish our mother/daughter relationship and our friendship. I adore watching her be Nana to my children and the way they light up when Nana is around. If I can someday be half the wife and mother she is, I will have done well.

Happy birthday, Mom! I love you more than words can say!