I love my Mom

My Mom rocks.

Yesterday was Mother's Day, and although it capped a really busy weekend for me, it was a great day.  The day wasn't about me at all (Jim's been working a crazy number of hours, so I was satisfied with a simple, "Oh, yeah.  Happy Mother's Day.").  But wait, I did get a dead snake from Sam, so at least one of my children remembered.  Hah.

Anyway, after I got off work, I resisted the urge to take a nap (singing for nearly 3 straight hours, plus about 3 total hours of driving to and from Chicago equals a really tired me, every single Sunday) and instead prepared dinner for my Mom.  Since she's a rockstar, she was conducting the pit for one of our community theatre's productions of "Thoroughly Modern Millie," which I got to see on Saturday night.  My Mom is the most engaging pit conductor I've ever seen, working her butt off to be energetic for the instrumentalists and cast.  In fact, last week I got an email from my Mom saying, "We need to go jeans shopping soon.  I cut the legs off a pair in the pit the other night because I was so hot."  That's dedication to your craft right there, people. 

I knew dinner last night would need to be simple, because most of my guests would be tired (Mom coming from the show, and Jim coming home late from work).  So I made some of my Mom's favorites, including cold veggie pizza (you know, the kind with biscuit dough and cream cheese dressing?), which she's been craving forever.  Oddly, Mom really wanted veggie pizza for Mother's Day but didn't want to ask me to go through the trouble.  Yay for Mother/Daughter ESP. 

I also always make homemade chocolate eclairs for my Mom for both Mother's Day and her birthday.  It's her favorite dessert ever, and my Grandma always used to make it for her.  So I always make a big batch for her and send them all home for her to enjoy over the next...oh, day or so. 

It was a nice night.  The four of us sat out on the deck and ate our dinner.  It was a little chilly, but still pretty pleasant once you put on a sweater.  It's been an unusually cool spring here in Illinois, so I really wanted to take advantage of the changing (warmer) weather.

I spoiled my Mom with lots of her favorite foods and flowers and presents.  She deserves it.  When I say my Mom is a rockstar, I naturally don't mean it literally, but, still, my Mom is amazing.  She's an amazing teacher, and even though she's been teaching for over 30 years, and she's within a few years of retiring, she still tries new teaching methods, trying to find the best ways to reach and engage her students.  And she wins awards.  And her students love her.  I'm really proud of that.

My Mom is also an amazing actress, singer, conductor, gardener, crafter.  She can build houses, rescue kittens, feed every stray in a one-mile radius.  She does my laundry when she stops by to feed my animals when I'm gone, she cries when she sees her first hummingbird of the year, and she's basically Mom to the whole world.  Which is why I'm so glad she's my Mom.  She's made me the person I am today.  She's my best friend.  She's the best Grandma any dog or cat could ask for.  I am so blessed.

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I would be remiss if I failed to point out that I also have a really wonderful mother-in-law.  She's a warm, loving woman who always sends me a card and a gift for Mother's Day, even though I don't have any humans of my own.  So even though she has 9 grandchildren (of the two-legged variety), she still recognizes my motherhood, and I love her for that (and for so many other reasons). 

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