From 1,291.33 Miles Away

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Happy Mother's Day, from Miriam

hen I think about my mother, a thousand things I love about her comes to mind. My childhood friends used to say, “Knowing your mom is like knowing you,” even though she was many things I wished I could be and wasn’t. I wished I had her stick-to-it-iveness. I would go gung-ho at an assignment or project, and if I didn’t enjoy it fully, I’d let it fizzle out. She would see something through until the end. I remember hoping that one day I would have her classic beauty. During my employment at Maurice’s in high school, one of the uber-popular Stevens High School girls I worked with (and was therefore intimidating to my shy, homeschooled self) said, “That’s your mom? Wow, she’s beautiful!” I remember thinking to myself on multiple occasions how blessed I was to have a mother whom I could talk to about almost anything, rather than the strict disciplinarians of some of my friends’ mothers. She seemed to relish in motherhood and enjoy every part of it, even in the commonly dreaded teenage years. And though I was never keen on kids or babysitting as a teenager, my mother was the reason I knew I wanted kids someday.

There are a few things that I want to express my appreciation for this Mother’s Day, Mom:

Happy Mother's Day, from Ben

1.  Thanks for bringing me into the loving and (honest to God) one of the quirkiest families and extended families I know.

2. Thanks for all the Eskimo, butterfly, and fish kisses while growing up.

3.Thanks for sharing your smell-good Mary Kay lip gloss with me every Sunday morning on our drive to church.

4. Thanks for hugging me, always, no matter what.

5. Thanks for reading Rikki-Tikki Tavi, Make Way for Ducklings, Where the Wild Things Are, and Apples Snakes and Bellyaches about a thousand times to Chad, John, and me during our childhood and never seeming to tire of it.

6. Thanks for not killing me on the spot when you found me in my room lighting Kleenex’s on fire with a lighter.

7. Thanks for reading to us well into our teens, just after breakfast and before we started each day of homeschooling. You have no idea how much I loved that.

8. Thanks for cultivating in me those things that I loved: reading, writing, and music.

9. Thanks for teaching me the value of meaningful relationships.

10.               Thanks for teaching me to draw and paint.

11.                 Thanks for not scolding me too much and then buying me a safety razor when you discovered I dry-shaved my legs for the first time when I was 9…Nine?? Hadessah’s that age. Ugh!

12.                Thanks for sharing all your shoes (when I could still fit into them), clothes, and jewelry with me, and not getting too terribly upset with me when I’d lose them or wear them so often you never got the chance.

13.               Thanks for letting me negotiate Saturday chores more often than I should have.

14.                Thanks for all the road trips, and singing at the top of your lungs with me, helping me learn harmonies, listening to books on tape, and cleaning up chocolate milk puke in the back seat without complaint.

15.                Thanks for giving me direction in life, even though I don’t seem to have it anymore.

16.                Thanks for loving me even when I’ve screwed up.

17.                Thanks for being way too overly protective.

18.                Thanks for attending the births of your grandkids.

19.                Thanks for being a loving grandmother to them too.

20.               And perhaps most of all, thanks for being an example of a great mother—one that I don’t know if I could ever outdo. 

This Mother’s Day, make sure you make Jim slave away extra for you. Make sure he gives you the hugs and kisses your grandkids and I can’t. Make him take you for a walk on the campus, and out to eat, and let you nap. Pet Hoshi a lot. She’s a poor substitute for your family, but I’m sorry, that silly asthmatic cat will have to do.

Happy Mother’s Day from all

1,291.33

Excruciatingly long miles away.