for mom

Today is Mother's Day. And as it always seems to work out, I'm too broke to get my mom anything. But if my mother taught me anything, it's the thought that counts.

Thank you mom, for teaching me how to sew. For making me Barbie outfits when I was little, and for sending me to school in home-made hammer pants that everyone laughed at. Thank you for helping me understand how fulfilling it is to make something with your own hands, even if it's not that great.

Thank you for always telling me "practice makes perfect" whenever I'd ask you how you got so good at art. I learned that you can't just be awesome at something over night. Although I've never been able to draw a horse as good as you.

Thank you for letting me coat myself in flour whenever you baked. I learned that it's okay to get dirty every now and then, as long as the cookies turned out ok. (I am however, not thankful that you let me eat butter by the spoonful....)

Thank you for being my girl scout co-leader. For making people buy cookies at work so we could go on trips. I don't think I liked girl scouts near as much as I liked having an excuse to hang out with you by myself one night a week.

Thank you for not having another girl, and for marrying someone who also had boys. You raised me in a house full of men and showed me that being a woman didn't mean I couldn't do whatever I wanted. And also that I didn't NEED a man to do things for me. I know how to wield a hammer and put things together myself. A woman should never be afraid of tools. (well, the kind you build with anyway)

Thank you for never buying my Halloween costumes. It was much cooler to be cat woman with a pleather outfit and face mask than it was for my friends to be cats with drawn on whiskers. That perhaps made me nerdy as a child, but you taught me that it was ok to be different.

Thank you for working so hard, for literally breaking your back at your job. I hated not seeing you as much as I'd like as a child, but as I've gotten older I finally realized that you were only doing it for my benefit. I know that I was spoiled rotten, and it's only because you made it so. Thank you for your sacrifices and for showing me the real meaning of integrity. I work hard at what I do because you set such a great example for me.

And finally, thank you for being stern, but kind. Thank you for giving me freedom as a child to do the things I wanted to do, and for letting me learn my own lessons. I've done a lot of things in my life that perhaps weren't the best ideas, but I always learned from them. I've found it better to live, to make mistakes, but to grow from them than to be kept away from things that might not be the best for me. I am stronger because of that. Thank you for teaching me that's it's ok to be (or to love) the under dog. Thank you for letting me be weird, and for showing me how to wear make up. A million thank yous for all the little things you've done, and for the big things. I am only the woman I am today because of you.

I love you mom!