No Wonder Mom's Deserve a Special Day!

I wanted to give out a special shout out to all the Mom's out there, especially mine!  She was nurturing and tough all at the same time.  She taught my siblings and I that everything we did had consequences, whether they were good or bad.  She started us out early - like at around age 4 early.  A couple of her favorites things she liked to do when we were little was Silent Butler and House Fairy.  Let me explain:

• Silent Butler- She would announce that in 5 minutes the Silent Butler was going to be going through the house and putting anything that was not in its proper place in a box.  We would have 5 minutes to get everything we owned that was all over the house into our rooms and put away, not just thrown under the bed.  If not we had to do chores to get our belongings back.  She didn't care if your lunch box was put in the box or your homework that was due the next day.  If you wanted it back you were going to clean for it.
• House Fairy - Even at a young age we had to do assigned chores, make our beds everyday, and keep our rooms clean.  Mom always said that yes it was our room but it was her house, and that her rules trumped everything.  So every now an again the House Fairy would come for a visit while we were at school.  If our room was clean the House Fairy would leave a present on our beds, like a coloring book or a game.  Let me tell you coming home and finding some random present on our beds was the most exciting thing ever!  My brother and I would scream while running down the hall "THE HOUUUUSEEE FAIIIRRRYYY CAME!!  The fairy could come once a week or once every 3 months.  There was no pattern to it so we ALWAYS kept our rooms clean!

As we got older she never let us put anything that we were responsible for on her.  I was in 4th grade and forgot to bring my completed homework to school.  It was for a book report that was due that day and if I didn't turn it in it was bad news with my teacher.  So I call her at work and see if she can go home and pick it up on her lunch and bring it me.  Her response - NOPE.  Sorry.  She said I guess you will never forget your homework again.  Or once my brother forgot his lunch and he's like me- we don't miss many meals, we love food and are always hungry.  So he is pleading with her to go get his lunch and bring it to school.  Her response - NOPE Sorry.  She said I guess you will never forget your lunch again.  Hope you have a friend that is feeling generous enough to share their sandwich. 

Now don't get me wrong - I'm not telling you these things so you can think she was an evil mom - she was anything but.  She never raised her voice, yelled, or threatened to spank us.  We never got grounded.  If we were in trouble she would actually get quiet.  That's when we knew that we were in trouble.  And sometimes she wouldn't dish out the punishment right away.  Sometimes we didn't even know we were in trouble.  I remember once I was supposed to do the dishes while she was at work.  It was summer and I was 10 and wanted to play outside with my friends (yes there was a time that I actually liked being outside - pause for reaction).  So I blew it off.  When she got home she did them herself and never said a word.  SCORE!  I was not in trouble and was thinking that she won't ask me to do any of that cleaning crap again, so I thought.  A few days later I asked her if she would take me to the mall - her  response NOPE Sorry.  She said that since I didn't do something that she had asked that she was not doing this for me and that I owed her 30 minutes of doing chores since she spent 30 minutes doing the dishes that I was supposed to do. 

All this stuff taught us kids to be responsible for ourselves.  My sister and I talk about this quite often.  We are grateful that we were brought up this way.  Her lessons went beyond keeping our rooms clean, we learned that hard work is rewarded and that everything we do, good or bad has consequences that we will have to deal with.  

Mom - I could never ever thank you for all the love and support that you have given me over the years.  You have always always always been the perosn that I can count on for anything.  I would not be the person that I am today without all the guidance I got and continue to get from you.  I love you more than you know and I'm so happy that God picked you to be my mom. 

To all the women I know that are moms - I sometimes think to myself that you are all Super Woman - with capes and all.  I don't know how you manage to squeeze 40 hours out of a 24 hour day.  How you still mange to find time to read or take a walk or do anything for yourself after doing so much for your kids.  I honestly don't know how you do it - must be some David Copperfield trickery up all of your sleeves!  I look up to each and every one of you!!  Happy Mothers Day!

My favorite picture of my mom and me
 

My beautiful mom