I hope all you moms out there had a great day today! I was lucky enough to spend the day with my mother, my son and his girlfriend, the DRG, my sister and her girls. We ate too much and laughed A LOT….it was a perfect day.
I thought I would share something I wrote on Mother’s Day about my mom a couple years ago on my personal Facebook page. I certainly owe a lot of who I am to her.
When we were small children my mom sewed a lot of our clothes, whipped up creative Halloween costumes and birthday parties, and cooked and baked every day – she was the classic stay at home mom.
She became a single mother before it was commonplace, and long before my parents actually split. She worked 3 jobs to keep us in our house, and still managed to shuttle my sister and I to dance classes and come up with money for costumes and tap shoes. She suffered through the neighbors shunning her for being the only divorcee on the block and maintaining a house and yard by herself so we could stay in our home.
When I was an obnoxious teenager who knew everything and she probably didn’t like me much, she managed to not throw me out (or kill me), and was wise enough to support my decision to move out at 17. I’m sure she didn’t like it, but it was the right thing to do and we’ve been best friends ever since.
When I decided to get married way too young, she made my wedding dress and veil, complete with detachable train and lace appliques.
It came out perfectly, and I’m sure it was a million hours of not very fun work.
She put herself through nursing school in her 40’s while working multiple jobs and became an RN. She ultimately ended up in the bone marrow transplant unit at Upstate Hospital taking care of very, very sick cancer patients. The families of her patients often sent heartfelt notes thanking her for her compassionate care of their loved ones, and when she lost one she grieved as if they were her own family.
When I started my gift basket business and it was exploding, she worked full time at the hospital and still spent 4 or 5 hours a day in the store helping me. She eventually became my partner in the business – I literally couldn’t have done it without her.
So thank you Mom, for being a mother and a father, for believing in me always and being the only constant in my life. For teaching me that anything is possible, and not holding my bad decisions against me. There is no doubt that I get my creativity, resourcefulness, tenacity and work ethic from you and I’m grateful for you every single day. Love you! 🙂