Happy Mom's Day!

It's so good being back in Birmingham (briefly) showing the house today and taking my mom to breakfast this morning. My nephew came along as well. I guess it isn't hard to tell who the eaters are in my family! It's the ones who show up for breakfast.

Here I am with my mom and I'm shoving ice or something in my mouth, dumping water down my shirt and being a wrecking ball even back then.

At races I'm still dumping water and ice down my shirt. Some things never change!

I made sure I ran with Little L this morning before the breakfast pig-out fest. We ran our usual 10 mile loop and I have to say, I am going to miss running with her on our familiar loop. I ran yesterday with our little group too. We ran almost 9 miles of every hill we could find in Mountain Brook, except the big one on the Statue to Statue 15k. That one is on the other side of Mountain Brook and we didn't run that long.

One thing I never do on Mother's day anymore is ride my bike. My worst bike crash ever happened on Mother's Day about 15 years ago. I landed right on my head and ended up in the hospital with a concussion and plenty of road rash, not knowing what happened or how old I was or where I was even though I was told a billion times. No short term memory. I fully recovered (my husband would argue that point) except for a scar on one of my shoulders.

I was out of the hospital the next day, but to this day I never bike on Mother's Day. In the past, I would do Gulf Coast triathlon on the Saturday before Mother's day so I was "recovering" on Mother's day, no chance of getting on my bike. I wouldn't have anyway!

The Boy is still at school and plans to stay there and work this summer. He was accepted into a research project with some of his professors and a few other computer students. I knew the Boy wouldn't remember that it's Mother's Day so I of course I called to remind him that he needed to wish me a happy Mother's Day! Lord knows I earned it with that kiddo!

The Boy is taking care of his cat, Phantom, who has heart disease and has to take medication every day. I've called him the last couple of mornings to remind him to give the cat the meds and by the time I call, he's already given them to Phantom. I was worried that he would forget, but it looks like the Boy is taking good care of the cat. He was really glad to see Phantom and Phantom seemed happy too.

Phantom is such a boy's cat. He loves hanging out with the Boy and his friends. He just tolerates me. They both do! That's okay because I'm tolerable.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there!

Happy Mother's Day To My Mom

Mom holding me and that's my dad's arm

This is me and my mom when I was a baby.  I am very lucky to have her close by.  I don't know what I would have done without her when The Boy was younger.  She helped out a lot when I had to work and he was out of school for holidays or summer vacation.  I don't know what I would have done without her help.

My mom and me

Here's my mom when she was a baby.  She had a wonderful mom too - my grandmother who passed away about 9 years ago when The Boy was 10 years old.

My mom

My mom with her mom - my grandmother

And below is four generations of my family with me, my mom, my grandfather and my great-grandmother.

I'm not so sure about my great grandmother's mothering skills.  Out of four children, my grandfather was the only one to make it through childhood alive.  And she named him Harley, after the motorcycle.

A name he didn't like too much or keep as an adult.

Four generations.
My great grandmother, my mom holding me and my grandfather

I feel very blessed to have such a good mom.  I haven't been very good at calling or stopping by to see her on Mother's Day through the years, but that has changed as I have gotten older.  I appreciate her more and more.

The Murph lost his mom several years ago to diabetes.  For many years before that he didn't get to see her much because she lived in New Jersey and he had moved south.  He tells me all the time that he listens to her now more than he ever did when she was alive.

Her years of motherly advice and wisdom that he shrugged off when she was alive now is a very real part of him.  I don't think a day goes by when he doesn't say mom would have said this or mom would have done that.

It gives me hope that maybe The Boy is hearing what I say and storing it away somewhere to remember when I'm not there and he needs it.

Things he needs to remember such as - "Brush your teeth", "Wash your clothes" and "Always wear clean underwear!".

My mom is full of advice for me as all mom's are I guess.  I should probably listen to her more.   She has very good advice.  Anyway, even if I don't listen to her all the time, I still love her very much.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!