mom

today is mother's day. my mom isn't home right now, which hopefully means that my brother and his family took her out for lunch. mom lives in saskatchewan, a 5 hour drive from calgary, so i'm not with her today. i can't be there so i'd like to tell you about her, however, so if you'll indulge me.

first of all, my mom is beautiful. i wish i had a digital pic of her to show you. i don't know what she would say to hear me say that she is beautiful, but she is. she would probably deny it or be humble and change the subject. whenever people have said that i look like my mom it is the greatest compliment they could give.

the amazing thing about my mom is that she is my adopted mom. she and my dad adopted me when i was 4 days old. i have 2 brothers and 1 sister and they are all adopted too. how amazing are my parents that they took us all and raised us and were parents to us and loved us when they didn't have to. they chose to be our parents. amazing.

i'm sure there were times in my life that my mom didn't get me (i'm not sure she always does now, but she tries), and maybe there were times when she didn't really like me much (deservedly so) but i have never, ever doubted that she loves me. because she loves us she was strict with us, she taught us to work (reluctantly), she worries about us, she cooked for us, did our laundry, listened to our piano practice (she should probably be sainted for that one), drove us to skating practice, taught us about God, made us clothing, taught me to knit... this could go on.

i'm sure i'm not the only person to realize as an adult that i didn't acknowledge or appreciate my parents' love enough as a child/teenager. i do want to say that i recognize it now.

now, as an adult, i am learning to be my mom's friend and to "let her in" more in my life. she talks about me with pride to her friends, a fact that always astounds me. she proudly displays things i've made her, bragging about my abilities. when i lived in pakistan, she braved the computer so that we could be in touch by email. i love her for that, among many many things i love her for.

one thing about my mom that i know is that my dad loved her with every bit of his being. he looked at her like he was the luckiest man in the world. i think that says something about how wonderful my mom is.

even though she doesn't have a computer and probably won't see this post, unless i print it off for her, i want to say i love you mom. thank you.