Things are always better with your mom

I won’t be spending Mother’s Day with my Mom because she is busy being a “Mom” to who she calls “her ladies” today.

My mom has made a career out of being a mom, that’s how good at it she is. After raising three wonderful, successful, perfect children (haha, ok, Kevin’s not perfect), she decided to take her mom skills to a group home, where she cares for adult women who are mentally disabled. They need the same care as children do, and my mom is the perfect caregiver.

Before I was born, she was Brenda. Most recently, she’s Nana to four grandchildren. But she’ll always be Mom to me.

A former English teacher, she taught me how to read at an early age. By the time I started school, my teachers were super impressed. Is it a coincidence I went on to read for a career after that? Probably not. In fact, the first book I wrote I dictated to her when I was 5 years old, she wrote it down, and I illustrated it. Foreshadowing, for certain …

It’s also no coincidence that I love dogs, love to walk and lose my coffee cup in the microwave sometimes. I look at my hands and I think they look like hers. I used to think I look like my dad, but about half the people I meet say I look like my mom.

She was the first person I called from the hospital after I got hurt. She knew about it already, Jeff had called my dad, but she was stuck at work. I still had to call her because I knew hearing her voice would make it better, and it did.  And imagine my surprise when she came by a few hours later. She’s not a crier, but she cried when she saw me, and I cried too. I had my mom, so things immediately were better.  

And really, we all know this – life is better with your mom. For those that have lost their mothers, I think of you today too – and I will cherish every moment I have with mine, because I am fully aware that life passes by more quickly than I ever could have imagined.