For Mom

Thanks, Mom, for delivering me into this world … without an epidural. For sewing me that pink dress with “Nikki” quilted on the front. For not being too angry with me the time I licked all the frosting off the brownies (while leaving the brownies in the pan). For letting me hold my baby brother the day he came home from the hospital. For always reminding me to "get along" with my sister, who became my best friend. For encouraging me to draw, read, play the flute, shoot hoops, water ski and try tap dancing. For driving me to every basketball practice, junior high dance and slumber party. For braiding my hair, and for teaching me how to braid it myself. For taking me on Florida vacations and for creating a lifelong retreat at Cedar Lake. For decimating my high school English papers with red ink so that I could learn to be a better writer. For comforting me after that first heart-crushing break-up, so that I would know what real love felt like later on in life. For trusting me to make good decisions when those around me might not do the same. For covering a few of my rent checks in college, and for pouring me a glass of champagne on the night I became engaged to my husband. For buying my wedding gown, and for proudly walking me down the aisle. For baking me an angel food cake (with white frosting) every year for my birthday. For helping me care for my sons the week after they were born, when lack of sleep made those first days of motherhood feel extremely overwhelming. For every load of laundry, every floor vacuumed and every dish cleaned each time you babysit. For allowing my family to live in your empty nest for nine months. For driving Will and Owen to daycare when Pat goes out of town, and for taking late night phone calls about ear infections and croup. For being kind to my friends, and for loving my father deeply and endlessly. For teaching me about optimism, honesty, compassion, dignity and strength.

Happy Mother's Day to my mentor, my friend, my mom.


Mom and me, 1979