My Mama

These are my Mother's Day flowers. BabyGirl & Uncle E picked them from his garden last night when the kids were there playing so I could clean house. This morning she noticed there were flowers she hadn't picked (Uncle E had after she was done).

I'm a day early. I'm sure you all will forgive me. You see, there's this lady I want to talk about. My Mama. Husband makes fun of me because I still call Mama & Daddy Mama & Daddy. Can't help it. I always will. I'll be 87 years old and still calling them Mama & Daddy. This is why my mother will always be Mama:

~She read to me. When I was little the TV blew up leaving me with no Sesame Street. Instead of Burt & Ernie as friends I got Laura & Mary Ingals, Lucy, Peter, Susan, & Edmond Pevensy, and anyone who made an appearance in Golden Books or Serendipity books.

~She was my playmate & friend. For 5 years it was just me & Mama...Daddy was at work, there were no siblings yet...it was just the two of us. She told me stories, sang me songs, taught me to play Memory. We watched our soaps together & went to the grocery together. She took me to ballet and was one of my biggest fans. She took me to swim class & helped me strip out of that wet bathing suit (that no 4 year old can ever escape from unaided). She taught me to tie my shoes (something I still have yet to get BabyGirl to grasp). She made me dresses & later taught me to sew.

~She told me the most outrageous things...and I believed her. Looking back I'm pretty sure none of it was true, but she could tell the stories like they were gospel.

~She decided to get pregnant because I was so bored I wanted to go to the grocery...or that's how the story goes anyway. :)

~I know every verse to every Christmas Carol ever written because she listened to them all year long. And when we argued over the lyrics to Neil Diamond's America, she put the record on, turned it all the way up, and listened to it over & over again until I heard what she did. She's why I still love Larry Galtin & the Gatlin brothers & Anne Murry. She took me to my first concert: Donny & Marie Osmond.

~When I was 17-20 years old, and she was stupid, she still persisted in telling me what I was doing was wrong. Too bad it took me so long to figure out she wasn't as stupid as I thought and that tough love is just that...LOVE.

~She stayed to take me dress shopping when I told a certain FarmBoy that I would marry him. And she told me when a dress did nothing for me...and exchanged worried glances with me over the choices of some of the other brides in the shop.

~She stood by me (literally) as I delivered BabyGirl & #1 Son, holding one leg for me, joking about how I should have shaved my legs (even though I had), & holding her breath every time I had to hold mine. She gave me a new shade of nail polish for my toes for each baby I had (pink sparkles for BabyGirl, Orange for #1 Son, a horrible green that BabyGirl picked out for B.B., and a beautiful purple I'm already sporting for Bitsy). She was in the room waiting with me the first time B.B. was brought in for me to hold.

~ When I was a teenager, I remember girls saying that their moms were their best friends. I thought they were all crazy. Mama was my mother. It wasn't her job to be my friend. We had good times, we had fun, but she was my mother first and foremost. Now she is my best friend.

When something happens, she's the first person I call. She's one of the biggest reasons I have unlimited long distance.

~Not only is she my best friend, but she has taken in my best friend. When Art needed support and her kids needed love, Mama offered willingly. She and Daddy have stepped in where needed & have done what I couldn't.

~She has admitted when she's made mistakes. She's asked for forgiveness. She's made amends. She shown us (Bubba, Princess, & me) that there is nothing to be ashamed of, that we all screw up, but we can move on.

~Most of all, My Mama has shown me the love of Christ. As Inkling likes to say, she shows me Jesus with skin. She made sure we were in church, Sunday school, youth group, choir practice. She prayed for us and still does. She's prayed over us. She's called us down when needed. She's lifted us up when needed. She's praised us when we deserved it and sometimes when we didn't. She's let us know that God is the most important thing in our lives...no matter what. And she's been faithful to that.

Happy Mother's Day! I love you, Mama.