Mom's 80th Birthday

Sorry about that test post. OK, it appears I do know what the heck I am doing. So, a few memories of the Greatest Mom On Earth!

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One of my earliest memories is making Christmas tree ornaments. I made one at school out of an egg carton. Mom still has it! It looks pretty lame now, but I have to tell you I thought I had done something pretty special at the time, right up there with Rodin or Van Gogh. And I remember how much Mom loved it - what a big thrill, and Mom gave me a head full of confidence for future endeavors. (Hey - she still loves it!)

One time I was riding my bike to school and trying to keep up with brother Bill. He wanted no part of his little brother tagging along, and performed a series of expert maneuvers designed to leave me in the dust. It did. I spun out in the gutter and cried all the way home. There was Mom, hugging me and putting me back together again. (And when Bill got home, Dad gave him a serious spanking. I loved his cries for pity.)

Mom came to all my games and bought the hot dogs and suicides. A heck of a lot of fun. I even hit two home runs on Mother's Day, 1968! On the camping trips she bundled up up front so we could have it perfectly climated controlled in the back. When I got sick up and threw up, she held my head with a cloth and comforted me. I probably would've died if she hadn't.

She made great meals on a very tight budget. They still beat the best restaurants I have taken her to. I loved the ground beef on mashed potatoes and the tacos (another flat one, Mom!) And how come her spaghetti was always better on the second day than any I've ever had since, on the first or second day? (She still makes dinners for me, and she's become a real gourmet chef, let me tell you.)

When I got older, she always let me have my say and make my way. Between her loving grace and Dad's stern discipline, I couldn't have possibly have asked for anything more. I've always told her, any good I have ever done, I owe to her and Dad. All my dumb stuff, that's on me.

My favorite adult memory is when I got a job at Dial Finance after working as basically a glorified stock boy at Kmart for six months. After working the floor in retail, I was pretty jazzed to sit behind a desk in an office, and I told Mom all about it. Mom said, "You have a desk? That's incredible! You're doing so wonderful!" Later I remember feeling kind of stupid for having bragged about that to her. I mean, what were they going to do, have me sit on the floor? But Mom was great at that kind of stuff. If you even thought you were on a roll, she sure knew how to keep it going for you. Whatever I was up to, Mom was there for me, and all was right in the world.

I saw Kathi write in a recent email something I wrote to Mom once - How in the world did we get so blessed by God to have her as our Mother??? Given how undeserving I am, I don't even try to figure it out. Mom, on your 80th birthday, I can only quote from Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night': "I can no other answer make but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks..."

I thought it at ten, I thought it at thirty, and I think it today - I am the luckiest person in the world.

My love always,

Bob