This Mother's Day

This weekend is going to be full of good food, because it's mother's day and that's the best way to celebrate, right?  I love you, Mom, have some ganache cookies. :)

Nathan is making me blueberry french toast in a bread pudding kind of fashion, because I asked him to.  I said, "If you love me, you'll make this for me.  Even though I'm not your mom." :)  He's a good man.

We're making a Sunday lunch for his mom.  We're going to make sweet potato chips and try not to eat them all before his mom's lunch.

I can't help it.  For me, the gift of good food says, "I love you so much, I want you to have a moment of bliss, where your tongue celebrates and conversation gets that much better,  the people around you suddenly get sweeter, and you just have a rich, blessed time."
Ha.  Maybe it's because I'm not a conversation genius that I love the food crutch so much. :)

All of that food talk aside, I must say that each year of being a mother, dumps on me the reality of what my mother did for us.  I don't know if I could have walked in her shoes.  She had 5 (the first 3 being 15months apart!), and then she home schooled us.  And back then home schooling was very alien.
I thought I felt like a spectacle when I was pregnant with #4 and had 3 little ones using my grocery cart like a playground and people looking at me like I was an insane glutton for punishment.
She had 5 monkeys and I remember the stares and questions, especially when people realized we weren't in school.  There were people around her telling her she was wrong for giving up her life to keep her kids home.  And she did give up her life.  How much did she lose to give to her kids?  I'm sure it can't be measured.

I remember being told I was beautiful when I was sure I was hideous.  I remember receiving cards that said how proud she was when I'd worked hard and accomplished something.  I read those cards so many times, I had them memorized.
When I was first married she took me grocery shopping.  When I had my first baby she did our laundry and cleaned our house.

Oh! One night when Nathan was out of town on business and my colicky firstborn never let me sleep (I'm sure I was postpartum depressed.  I just couldn't stop crying), I stayed at my parents house.  It was so late, and Riley was crying and I was crying.  My mom took Riley with her in their bathroom that was in her bedroom, so that I couldn't hear Riley cry.
I woke up in the morning and realized she'd been in there all. night. long.  And you're supposed to feed those babies every few hours. :)
I can just imagine her bouncing that mad, fat baby for hours with her eyes stinging for wanting sleep, but she wanted me to get better and happy.  She has always poured herself out for us.  She showed us true sacrifice while we didn't even recognize it at the time.

We also both love to have clean surfaces that shine, flossing our teeth regularly, and other general obsessive compulsive behavior. :)
Thank you, Mom, for making me who I am today. :)  Love you!