Happy Birthday! 50 Reasons Why I Love My Mom

There is a video I found from back when I was three
You set up a paint set in the kitchen and you're talking to me
It's the age of princesses and pirate ships and the seven dwarfs
And Daddy's smart and you're the prettiest lady in the whole wide world.
//Taylor Swift
50 Reasons Why I love my Mom- for Mom’s 50^th Birthday

1.       Gailey Bunny, Kristie Kitty, and Tassie

2.       Her beauty and her smile

3.       Always taking good care of me whenever I have been sick

4.       For giving me my beach-girl soul, and the connection to Waterford and Pleasure Beach

5.       Being a great cook and making excellent Chicken Larchmont

6.       Always letting us pick out our birthday dinners

7.       She followed through on her punishments and raised us well, instilling manners and a healthy fear and respect for parents/elders

8.       For giving me my Brother

9.       Loving animals ALMOST as much as she loves us

10.   Meeting and marrying my Step Dad Dave

11.   Always being “the fun house” of the neighborhood growing up, and the place where everyone wanted to be

12.   Getting us a pool

13.   Being a single Mom and keeping a roof over our heads, food on the table, and clothes on our backs

14.   She always knows how to talk Michael and I off the ledge

15.   Big kiss, little baby kiss, big hug, little baby hug

16.   Being like Nana and wearing her skirted bathing suits

17.   “The Chip store drawer”

18.   Are we there yet? How many Barney tapes?  Taking us on Road trips and making memories

19.   Taking us on countless vavactions to Disney, Moosehead, Sanibel, Dewey, PB, California

20.   Her sense of humor

21.   She always goes out of her way to tell us she loves us

22.   For not letting the doctor cut my webbed toe when I was born

23.   Letting me have the master bedroom for 26 years (and counting)

24.   For surviving, and thriving after divorce

25.   Taking me to endless swim practices and swim meets and sitting on hot pool decks for 15 years as my biggest cheerleader

26.   For talking jibberish to us in her sleep

27.   Meridian Wine (see #26)

28.   Always making us eat dinner at the table as a family

29.   Letting me have sleepovers on school nights

30.   Supporting me and pushing me to succeed in whatever I chose to do… whether it was a sport or school or job or life decision

31.   Giving me my nickname : Roonie

32.   Her hard work ethic, and working 2-3 jobs at a time to support us

33.   Letting me live at home as long as I need to

34.   For always making holidays, traditions, and birthdays over the top as kids

35.   Her amazing talent for crafting; either baskets, quilting, beading, knitting, gardening, etc.

36.   Making me do my chores

37.   She has made the best friends and has the best sisters who are all like second-Moms to me

38.   Always taking an interest in my style and outfits, complimenting me every day

39.   Making our childhood house a home that I know I can always return to

40.   Loving my best friends as much as I do, and treating them like additional daughters

41.   For going away on vacations so that Mike and I could have house parties in high school, and then letting us have house parties/theme parties thereafter to this day

42.   Letting me have my own beliefs

43.   For being extroverted, loud and outspoken

44.   For teaching me that LIFE IS NOT FAIR

45.   For always finding a way- from yard work to fixing appliances and using tools, she can always get it done

46.   For making us laugh with her choice words when she’s stressed out/can’t figure something out/breaks something (see #45)

47.   She was an excellent water skier

48.   For running a company out of our basement for 20 years so that she could always be home for us

49.   Always taking photos and videos of us growing up- photos and memories I will cherish forever

50.   For caring for and loving my brother and I unconditionally, forever. For being a role model and my best friend. She is the best Mom a girl could ever hope for, and I hope to be half as good a mother as her some day!

And because 50 reasons barely scratches the surface!

Happy 50^th Birthday Mom! I love you too much, forever, and once more.

And without further ado, a look back at the last 50 years.....

But there's a story behind everything.
How a picture got on a wall.
How a scar got on your face.
Sometimes, the stories are simple,
and sometimes they are hard and heartbreaking.
But behind all your stories is always your Mother's story,
because hers is where yours begins.
//Mitch Albom