by: Raine

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(Momma Raine and Raine, age 2; I used this picture on last year’s post, but it’s so beautiful and so is my mom!)

This is my second year of posting a public declaration of love to my mother on Mother’s Day. I love doing it. I love my mom and other people should know about it! Mom, here are ten reasons (ONLY ten) why I think you’re the BEST!

1) My mom misses me when I’m not there.

I moved to Colorado last August and we see each other as much as possible. The last time we saw each other was January. Well, at least in person. We Skype all the time. But she’s starting to get antsy and misses “her girls”. (My sister and I moved in together.) She tells us almost every day she misses us and needs to see us in person for big hugs. You know what? I think the same thing! Soon mom!

2) My mom let me adopt a cat when I lived with her. She’s REALLY allergic to cats.

(Timmy two minutes after we found him.)

All of you probably know the story about my baby boy, Timmy. If you don’t, you should read it. Mom’s first instinct was to say, “No, you can’t have an animal that makes my eyes puffy, my skin scratchy and makes it very difficult for me to breathe.” But then she saw how me, my brother, and my sister reacted to the little creature. We came together over the cute furry thing so my mom decided to let us keep him. She even named him “Timmy” and fell in love.

That isn’t all. We had to partition the house. The Timmy half and the Mom half. Timmy was only allowed in half the house and doors that once stood open at all times now remained closed. Mom couldn’t sit on the sofas in the Timmy half. She had to change clothes every time she walked between  halves. Eating dinner together meant sitting on a chair Timmy sat on. She did it and she loved him and loved us. She took medicine to prevent her allergies from getting too bad.

That’s love right there, mom. She did it for her kids and she made a friend out of a lonely, abandoned cat at the same time.

In return, we keep a cat free room in our house for whenever she visits! Not that it’s much, but we tried mommy!

3) She gave birth to me.

(Mom, me i, 2003, do you remember?!)

This may seem like a “no duh” as she’s a mother and it’s Mother’s Day. Also, kids are born every day; women suffer. But I still appreciate that my mom suffered through the painful hours of birthing me (no epidural!) and then still loved me anyway. She tells me all the time about what it was like to have a firstborn and how awesome it was. It makes this firstborn feel AWESOME, too. It’s how I want my firstborn to feel.

4) She tells it how it is.

My mom is a no B.S. kinda woman. If I gain weight, she tells me. If I lose it, she tells me. If I sound awesome or terrible on cello, she tells me. I always know she’s honest and straight forward with me. It’s so nice to always know where I stand. And I am the same with her. Now, she’s my mom and my best friend.

5) She never let me go without.

In pretty much any case, she and my dad always made sure we were well-fed, clothed, educated and loved. I had all the lessons I wanted, even if she had to work extra for them. And not only me, I have two very brilliant and talented siblings. At any given time in my childhood I had not only three delicious meals a day, but choir, piano lessons, cello lessons, four kinds of dance classes and even karate classes. She worked extra, drove me, bought costumes, paid fees, came to my recitals WITH flowers. She and dad were my built-in, happily devoted, truly proud fans.

Guess what, mom? I’m a musician! It paid off! 😀

6) She is constantly learning and growing.

(From her etsy shop. Gorgeous right?)

Both my parents do this, but since this is about mom, I will focus on her. (Love you, too, daddy!) My mom is always studying and reading and learning and growing. She’s really focusing on her artistic talents at this point in life and it’s really amazing to see a person always growing. I really like that. I want to be like her when I’m her age.

She is a psychotherapist and really enjoys doing her CEU’s (continuing education units necessary to keep her license updated) and learning about the newest research and techniques. She’ll call me and tell me about the cool stuff she learns (and the stupid stuff too, hehe.)

And for art, she’s delving into photography, painting, drawing and photoshop, working with dried flowers and nature scapes. She’s a whiz at photoshop, which baffles me ’cause I think it’s the most complicated program on the planet. Hehe.

7) She still has an amazing relationship of nearly 30 years.

My parents actively keep their relationship up. They go out every week. They talk every night. They parent together. It’s nice because they have their own, separate daily lives and then come together and be together and it shows me the kind of relationship I want to have. They, as a couple, made the active decision to keep their relationship up and make it a good one for the both of them. I totally dig that. They even take vacations alone, just the two of them, all romantic and everything. Aww. Who says love goes stale?

Work people! It’s worth it. Be active in life and love and relationships!

8) She still has an amazing relationship with me (of nearly 30 years. ACK!)

Now that I’m out of babyhood and childhood and teenagerhood and collegehood and all that, my mom and I still try to cultivate out relationship together and I really like that. We talk a lot and give each other advice and gossip. When I have a hard day I can call her. And lately, because her sister passed in December, she’s been having hard days so she calls me. I like being there for her. It’s also fun to have someone to call and who will be genuinely happy for the little bits of news I have to share: like I did 30 minutes on an aerobic machine instead of the 8 minutes of two weeks ago! Yay!

The funny thing is, as we’ve gotten older, we’ve grown into friends, but she can still be mom when she has to. She has the magical mom power.

9) She cultivated good relationships between me and my siblings.

(Brother, me, sister at Pikes Peak in 2003)

I really love my siblings and they love me back. My mom (and dad) really worked hard to make that happen. She really made sure we understood each other and our quirks. (Lord knows that I have…a lot.) I was not an easy teenager or early 20-something to love or like. I was super moody. But my siblings loves me anyway and they forgave me. Now my sister lives with me and my brother and I talk all the time. We fight correctly, which means a lot of patience, talking and understanding. All three of us are VERY different people and it’s hard to do, but we do it anyway. My mom (and dad) really made sure that happened.

10) Because I love her.

When I was a teenager I wasn’t very forthcoming with the word “love”. I was actually quite rude and withholding. Surprise, surprise. I was a teenager. I decided not to feel bad about that and instead to shower her with the affection I should’ve then…NOW. So mom, I love you! You’re the best! Don’t forget ever that I love you.

Happy Mother’s Day!!!

Celebrating 28 years of Motherhood!