12 | July | 2013 | Over The Backyard Fence

Don’t run for your calendar. It’s not Mother’s Day. FYI – if you DID check your calendar, you are WAY late on those Mom accolades. 🙂

My mother’s birthday is this next Tuesday, the 16th. She will be 89 years young. And I would like to honor her with a few words. Especially this year, since we just had a medical scare with her that, well, to be blunt, scared the crud out of all of us “kids”. However, I’m glad to be able to report the scare has passed and she is once again back in her own home, driving, and being the independent person myself and my 4 siblings have tried to model ourselves after.

My mother was born to a father who worked in sawmills and a mother who worked as a telephone operator. Post high school, she started some business courses, but soon found full time employment. One of the things she did for fun was roller skating. It’s funny because that’s also something I loved to do. I even managed to instill that fondness for skating in one of my daughters. Three generations of women skated at the same roller rink—until they tore it down and put up a car lot. Sigh.

Mom worked full time while raising us kids. There are five of us. Dad worked, too, and we didn’t see him much. So I consider Mom to be the biggest influence in my life. She taught me…

Right from wrong.
That helping was better than selfishness.
That making mistakes is part of life and we must both learn from them, as well as right the wrongs when we can and apologize.
That family is everything.
That laughter pushes the hurts away.
That humble feels better than bragging.
And probably the biggest lesson I ever learned from her, was that it was okay to be my own flawed self. That I am loved no matter what. 🙂

So, after a month of excessive worry over her illness, and blessed relief as she rallied and returned to good health, I, along with my two sisters and two brothers, celebrate our mother. My brother said it best when he told the hospital doctor that our mother is “exceptionally amazing”.

She is the best of the best.

Happy early birthday, Mom!

Love,
Laurie