Mimi's Mother's Day

Mother's Day is tomorrow, and I still often don't think of me as the mother on this day, just really think about my Mom (or as my girls call her now: Mimi).

Growing up, my mom was the cool mom, and my house was the place to be. My mom would feed you, teach you how to drive, play cards with you, and support you. And she did all of this for me as well...first and foremost.

I often thought it was a shame that I was her only child as she had so much love for all kids. High school friends often told me how lucky I was to have a mom like her. My extended family thought the same...at one point, she would have been a guardian for most (maybe all) of my cousins if anything had happened to my aunts and uncles!

Somewhere along the way, I realized that she was the one mom for me and me only. There's a poem that I can't find or remember that talks about the different stages of your opinion about your mom. Something about:

When you are in elementary school, she hung the moon.
As a teenager, she knows nothing at all.
In college, you start to think she does know a few things.
As an adult, you don't make any major life decision without consulting her.

That about sums it up for me except even in high school, I knew she was wise and great and the mom for me.

Last summer when I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, she was the first person I called with the news (husband was with me when I found out). It was the hardest thing I've had to do, tell my mom that I had cancer.

In the past year, she has spent approximately five weeks at my house (two different sessions/two separate surgeries), helping me and my family during this cancer business. Although I would not wish to have cancer if given the choice, good things have come from the experience. One is that I was able to spend alot of time with my mom. When I was in the hospital for four days last summer, she spent most every day by my side in the hospital entertaining me or saying nothing at all, just being there.

And for that, and her, I am grateful.

I can only hope to be as good of a mom as she was to me. She's a tough act to follow... :)