for my sweet mama

When did you start appreciating your mama?

I never quite realized what a wonderful mom I had until I had my own babies. With Britton, the full gigantic wonderful scary responsibility of motherhood sort of surprised me. And I realized that my mom is great. And she did an awesome job. And that I am very very thankful that she is my mommy.

My mom is totally rad.

Can I tell you a little bit about her? Because she called me today, and informed me that I had talked a lot about my in-laws on this little blog, but not at all about her. Then I went back through my blog, and found her mentioned all over the place... But no pictures for two years! Sorry, Mom.

Besides, it was the first time she'd ever checked my blog. See, she uses the internet for one thing: School work. She just finished her first college degree!

Which sounds pretty cool, but when you get the back story, it's even better.

My mom went to work full time before she ever started high school. Home life wasn't so great, so she packed up and moved out when she was 16. She eventually got a GED. But she has been working full time for the past 32 years. When she was 18, she got married to her very best friend. On her wedding night, she miscarried their first child. (you did not read that wrong, her mother was angry she got blood on the gown) But two years later, she went through a couple months of bedrest, a couple days of heavy labor, a few doctors telling her she might have a baby with serious disabilities, a c-section, and on Thanksgiving Day her mom told her she gave birth to me instead of making her fabulous pies for everybody.

She's an excellent cook. But she's set in her ways, and doesn't so much like my innovations :)

And since then she's had two more sweet children. Worked full time while raising us. And I think we're all turning out pretty good.

And then about 5 years ago she decided to go back to school. And she worked full time while doing it.

This summer was especially tough. She kept Becky's journey very close to her heart. And my grandma was in the hospital on and off all summer. And then my mom almost died.

It's hard to talk about, too.

Sometimes I like to live in a sort of la la land. This happy 'Leave it to Beaver' sort of place where everything is always happy. And I compartmentalize everything. It makes sense in my head, somehow, that my mama is sort of a private subject usually. But I do want to remember the things that happen. And I don't want her to feel left out now that she's checking out my blog. (bythway, James says it's just going to look like I'm sucking up. That's okay. This sort of stream of consciousness telling of my mom's story is a nice way for me and the kids to look back and appreciate her. It's about time!)

See, my mom called me in June, before John was born more excited than Christmas. Which is really exciting for her. She made me and my brother and sister sit on Santa's lap until I graduated from high school. We just looked at the picture from my senior year last week. It's funny. Chase was huge, and Becca was still pretty young, but I think most parents let their kids off the hook about her age.

Anyway, Mom called and said she was going to give her doctors balloons and candy. She was going to get a hysterectomy. And good riddance to all those lady parts.

But the seriousness of the issue wasn't clear until a few days after she'd gotten out of the hospital. The doctor had found that because of all of her c-sections, her uterus had healed itself to her bladder and that there were large cysts growing on her kidneys. And then she got a fever. The doc said take her in if it was over 101. Dad came down the stairs and asked "What did he say about 104?"

On the way to the emergency room, Mom told me to get the shotgun and protect the house.

Later, she said she saw the tunnel of lights. And then she contracted Bell's Palsy. At least it wasn't the stroke that it seemed like. See her crooked smile in the picture? She gets to wear a cool eye patch because her left eye won't close. The girls got matching eye patches.

They love their Grandma Becky. And she loves them lots and lots too.

And boy am I thankful she's still around. And has discovered my blog :)