Happy Birthday Mom

To the woman whose bladder I sat on for many months and who gave birth to me, willingly without drugs...

Thank you for undergoing pain for me (the first of many pains you accepted on my behalf).

Thank you for being my girl scout leader and my room mom and my team mom and my picture person and my class chaperone on every single field trip (even when I didn´t want you to).

Thank you for making me realize when I´m being crazy or demanding or inconsiderate and gentling encouraging me to own up to and apologize for what I´ve done or said.

Thank you for making me tell people at my 16th birthday party and college graduation that they couldn´t give me presents. That their presence on my special day was enough.

Thank you for not spoiling me and letting me have instant messenger or my own telephone.

Thank you for not buying me an American Girl doll or an inflatable chair or Limited Too clothes.

Thank you for making me wait for my birthday or Christmas to receive a cell phone or a camera.

Thank you for always making me partner up with the shy kids.

Thank you for the moments when you listen to me vent and don´t say anything. Thank you (even more) for the moments when you listen to me vent and then know exactly what to say (even when I don´t want to hear it).

Thank you for embodying the word "homemaker" with emphasis on the word "home" - for making it a safe, happy, nurturing place to grow up.

Thank you for taking me to see and visit the not-so-happy and not-so-safe places that exist in our city and in our world.

Thank you for living your faith with both your intellect and your heart, with curiosity and with joy.
 

Thank you for loving me enough to let me fail.
 

Thank you for understanding me enough to let me leave, time and again (and for welcoming me back). I have no hometown, no childhood house. What I go back to each time is not a collection of my stuff or a place that holds all my memories. You are my definition of home. 
 

Thank you for being the exquisite, silly, cultured, courageous, supportive, whole-hearted, overly-emotional (I didn´t inherit my crying side from dad), thought-provoking, witty, and eternally beautiful woman you are (and that I thank you for being my mother should go without saying).

I don´t know who you were for the first 30 years of you life and for the next 15 years I was too concerned with who I was to really pay attention, but these last ten years (and, especially, the last three or so) have been a real gift to spend with you. Recognizing the many parts of me that come directly from you is a surprisingly and gratifying adventure in my own growth. Being compared to you is the best compliment I can receive.
Happy Birthday. I love you more that blogs can express.