This entry is to wish my mom a Happy Mother’s Day! I think we can all agree she has had one of the most delightful tasks in the world – being my mother. But I must admit there have been periods when I was less than a delight, periods in which her mothering was put to the test. Since I am now 30 and officially old I have the wisdom of years that enables me to say she did her work well.

We did not always see eye to eye (I had the advantage, being a foot taller) but somehow she managed not to kill me over the years. She loved me, took care of me, drove me around, sang me to bed at night as a child, put up with the music I listened to as a teenager, fed me, clothed me, put up with the clothes I wore as a teenager, and loved me.

She made me pancakes so I could wiggle. She let me watch A-Team on Saturday mornings (or did I do that without her knowing… I forget – maybe this post is confession time!) and she tried to protect me from things I shouldn’t watch.

She and my dad had it tough, raising a positively ADHD kid who has always had a strong stubborn and independent streak and yet she extended to me the grace of God. Now I have kids of my own and they have a grandmother who will hold them and rock them and let them play with her toy purse and cook for them and put up with their squeals.

Thanks, mom, for raising me, for loving me, for teaching me, for helping me. And thanks for now doing so with my own kids.

I love you. There. I’ve said it for all the world to see. Just don’t hug me in front of the guys.