38 Years of Thank You

Mother is the one we count on for the things that matter most of all. - Katherine Butler Hathaway

Birthdays.  I love them.  Not that I love getting older (which I really don't mind, yet) but they are a day that is all about you.  It's like your own national holiday.  As I said on W's birthday, there is not a bigger day to celebrate than the day you were born.  So since I can't be with you on your birthday, Mom, here is my gift to you.

Thanks for being my mom. 
Thanks for the special lunches on orthodontist appointment days. 
Thanks for not making me eat Grape Nuts. 
Thanks for making me eat poi. 
Thanks for changing the locks. 
Thanks for giving me a new key to those locks. 
Thanks for making me take dance classes. 
Thanks for dressing me up like a pig (no really, I mean it!). 
Thanks for teaching me how to garden. 
Thanks for the dinner bell.  
Thanks for my Cabbage Patch Kid.  He still sits in my bedroom.
Thanks for my surprise birthday party. 
Thanks for the picnic dinners on the porch in the farmhouse. 
Thanks for making me go to Girl Scout Camp and the Poison Ivy medication afterwards.
Thanks for all the dinners you freeze for me because you know I love them. 
Thanks for being such a great Grandma to the boys. 
Thanks for taking time to listen to me vent. 
Thanks for teaching me to cook (although I still don't think I have the hang of it). 
Thanks for Mackinac. 
Thanks for letting me spend the night at Penny's with only a moments notice. 
Thanks for making me share a room with Charlie and Michele...both were great! 
Thanks for not killing Charlie and I when we had crayon wars. 
Thanks for Gumdrop the hamster and Sam the cat. 
Thanks for moving to Ohio to be closer to us and understanding when I moved a couple years later. 
Thanks for making all of my Halloween costumes, they were much better than the plastic ones. 
Thanks for all of the parenting advice when I get to a situation I don't know how to handle. 
Thanks for going to Blue Ridge with us, it's my favorite week of the year.
Thanks for being my Girl Scout Troop leader...and sorting all of the cookies! 
Thanks for picking me up in the school nurses office a million times..and sorry I'm so clumsy. 
Thanks for introducing me to eggplant.
Thanks for supporting me when I decided to quit my job and follow my dream.
Thanks for cuddling with the boys.  They will never forget it.
Thanks for shipping me to Grandma and Grandpa's each the summer...those weeks created great memories.
Thanks for making me carry firewood in the snow, I have a better work ethic because of it. 
Thanks for sitting with me in my oxygen tent a million times in Pigeon....pnemonia stinks!
Thanks for our girls out days...they mean the world to me.
Thanks for painting the pink bedroom...it was hideous.
And lastly, thank for being my best friend. 

I'm so sorry that I can't spend today with you, sipping umbrella drinks and staring at the pool boy.

And to everyone else, take a minute to think about who you are thankful for...and let them know.  I know that I don't say thank you enough.