Happy Early Birthday to my Mommy!

Well, my mom's birthday is on Saturday. I will not be here on Saturday. In fact, I won't be here for several days. I will be visiting the 'Bean and her new baby Shayla! I have not met Shayla yet, and I have been waiting (not-quite-so-patiently, because it's beyond me to do so) to meet her! And now the chance is finally here! So, just so you know, I'll be gone for several days. That being said, I want to tell my mommy happy birthday! Not that she reads my blog or anything. Because she doesn't. And then, when I ask her if she has, she says, "No, I know. I'm terrible!" I'll catch up her when I'm up there :).

So, Elka actually has requested stories about my mom. So I've been saving them up for her birthday post. So, Elka... here you go!I'm going to go ahead and say what every person says about their mom... I have the best mom ever! She is probably the most patient person I've ever met. Which is something I don't understand, but I really admire it. She's also always happy. She always looks on the bright side. Always. And she always finds the good in everyone. Always. I've noticed that, when I've been at my lowest, and I call her and cry, she cries with me. My mom is a strong woman, but she has a tender heart. And there have been many times she has said to me, "I wish I could take your pain so you wouldn't have to have it." And I know she means it. And I know that, to mean that as sincerely as she does, it takes an immense amount of love -- to desire to take someone else's heartache and grief and pain. My mommy is selfless. But she is also so funny. I love my mom so much, and here are some reasons why...

I can remember so many things my mom did for us over the years, sacrificing things for herself to do them. For example, she always packed our lunches every morning. She could have made us get up and pack them, but didn't. She made our sandwiches, packed our cookies, etc. every single day. And for the record, this was the majority of our school years. Buying lunch at school was a very rare treat. Another example of this was when I wanted to take cupcakes for my birthday to school and to seminary and to the pool. My mom stayed up late baking them and frosting them and packing them for me the next day. And then, that morning of my birthday, she came in and sat on my bed and sang happy birthday to me as she woke me up. And she hugged me that morning. And I'm tearing up just remembering. I was her 16-year old baby, and it was my birthday, and she was going to make it special for me. And it was... I've never forgotten it. Another example of her selfless actions was that she supported me, even if it cost extra money or took extra time. In 10th grade, I wanted to lose weight (an on-going endeavor, but I'll tell you something amazing to me... I weigh about 5 pounds more right now than I did in 11th grade -- and remember, I'm in camel stage right now). Anyway, my big plan was to eat fat-free food. So my mom bought me all the fat-free stuff I wanted -- ff poptarts, ff fig newtons, snackwell's cookies, ff American cheese, etc. And every morning for breakfast, she cut me up different kinds of fruit (and remember, fresh fruit isn't exactly cheap). These are the things my mom did for me. And I'll never forget them. Ever.
Of course, she's always good for a laugh. Just ask her sister (my aunt Hila) or her niece (Elka). Or even one of her kids (like me, Ben, Brad, or Christina). For example... My family always had cats. My mother thought it was hilarious to "torture" them by annoying them. Now, before you get any wrong ideas, my mom wouldn't hurt a flea. So how would she torture the family cats? you might ask... The answer is two-fold. She'd either put peanut butter on the roofs of their mouths and then watch them lick at it like crazy trying to get it unstuck. Or, she'd roll tape and stick it to their paws and watch them walk and try to flick off the tape at the same time. And she'd laugh harder than you can imagine. I told these stories to Julie's mom, and Julie's mom laughed. She said she'd like to meet this woman. And she's never forgotten this story about my mom either.
This other story is funny to me. I thought I'd written it already on the blog. Turns out I didn't. I searched for it, but it's not there. If, by some weird chance, I did, please bear with me. Remember how I told you that my mom purposefully butchered songs? (Oh, by the way, she remembered another one: Instead of singing "Winnie the Pooh", she would sing "Windy old poop"). Well, she also unintentionally butchered other things. Who out there knows the main characters' names in The X-Files? Yeah, you might think it's Mulder and Scully. But you'd be wrong -- if you were to ask my mom. She thinks their names are Scullet and Mahone. She asked us one night if we were going to watch Scullet and Mahone. We were like, "What?!?" I'm not sure how we discovered that she was talking about X-Files. But we cracked up laughing when we did. Also, I'll never forget when Brad and I came home from school one day. This was in 1995 or 1996 (I could look it up, but I'm lazy). We came inside and she said, "Did you guys hear that Rapper Shaker died?" Again, I'm sure she was met with blank stares and the "Huh?" expression from us. Turns out she was sharing the news that Tupac Shakur (the rapper) had been shot. Those are two classics for me and Brad.

Well, there you have it. Some stories about my mom. I know I have about a million of them. But those are some good ones. Elka and Aunt Hila, feel free to share some if you'd like.
I love you Mom!!! Happy Birthday!

*And Stacy has guessed the movie quote correctly!*