Happy Birthday Mom!

I read this essay by Erma Bombeck when I was in high school and it always made me think of my mother.

"You don't love me!"

How many times have your kids laid that one on you?

And how many times have you, as a parent, resisted the urge to tell them how much?

Someday, when my children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates a mother, I'll tell them...

I loved you enough to bug you about where you were going, with whom and what time you would get home.

I loved you enough to insist you buy a bike with your own money, which we could afford, and you couldn't.

I loved you enough to be silent and let you discover your hand picked friend was a creep.

I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your bedroom, a job that would have taken me 15 minutes.

I loved you enough to say, "Yes, you can go to Disney World on Mother's Day."

I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment, disgust, and tears in my eyes.

I loved you enough not to make excuses for your lack of respect or your bad manners.

I loved you enough to admit that I was wrong and ask for your forgiveness.

I loved you enough to ignore "what every other mother" did or said.

I loved you enough to let you stumble, fall, hurt, and fail.

I loved you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your own actions, at 6, 10, or 16.

I loved you enough to figure you would lie about the party being chaperoned, but forgave you for it...after discovering I was right.

I loved you enough to shove you off my lap, let go of your hand, be mute to your pleas and insensitive to your demands...so that you had to stand alone.

I loved you enough to accept you for what you are, and not what I wanted you to be.

But most of all, I loved you enough to say no when you hated me for it.

That was the hardest part of all.

Erma Bombeck

Today, October 10th, is my mother's birthday. I celebrate this day, because without her there is no me. I don't just mean that I wouldn't have been born, although that is certainly true. It is because my mother is who she is, that I am who I am.

When I look at my children, I see so much of her in each of them. Brady's loyalty and character, K.C.'s curiosity and creativity, Abby's strength and nurturing, have all grown from her. Whatever skill I have as a mother, I learned from my Mom.

Thank you for everything, and happy birthday! I love you. :-)