Thank you Mom for. . .

deciding to have another baby after being in labor with my brother for 47 hours.

not getting rid of me when all I did was cry. And cry. And cry. For months.

staying home with my brother and me during our childhood.

baking homemade playdough.

going back to college and get your teaching certificate. That was aweseome.

teaching us, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

those little newspaper clippings and notes you send to me.

all the cards you've ever given me. I still have most of them.

trying to teach me to cook before I went away to college but not saying, "I told you so" when I called you a million times when I moved into my first apartment.

letting me move off campus my sophomore year even though you didn't really want me to.

paying for college. Wow.

telling me it was okay to not know what I wanted to major in. Then probably laughing to yourself when I declared Elementary Education when we probably all knew it was what I was going to do.

buying me as many books as I wanted and taking me to the library constantly as a child. You helped me learn to love reading.

letting me pick out the glasses I wanted in the 3rd grade. Did you want to laugh out loud when you saw them? They were AWFUL.

driving me to. . .thousands and thousands of dance classes.

paying for thousands and thousands of dance classes. Even when you knew I wouldn't be a prima ballerina.

paying for costumes for recitals.

letting me continue dance classes when the doctor said I should cut back because of my ankles.

taking all the pictures at the recitals, then saving ALL the pictures and programs and giving them to me with scrapbook materials to make a scrapbook.

letting my best friend live with us in High School.

letting me date losers. It really did teach me things.

letting all my friends stay over after Senior Prom and you and Dad leaving. I am so glad I was the kind of kid you trusted enough to do that.

becoming friends with all your friends so I became friends with all you friends' kids.

letting Ry and I have Cinder, Cinderella, AllStar, and Abby.

all the birthday parties you planned and beautifuly executed.

being with me when I passed out at Carrs and trying not to freak out in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

making me stay home from school a week because of the concussion.

allowing me to become a vegetarian when I was 12.

paying for me to go to camp in the summer.

all the elaborate Halloween costumes you MADE. Do we have pictures of the Tea bag one? That was insane.

the clothes you made for me.

volunteering at my elementary school.

all the vacations to California and Hawaii.

reading that letter I wrote to you about wanting a "Mother-Daughter" trip to Seattle and agreeing!

standing up for me when an unnamed teacher was being unfair to me.

calling me from the grocery store to ask me the most random questions.

coming to help me set up my first classroom.

letting me go to college out-of-state.

giving me that card in high school the day I was finding out if I made the soccer team after the week of tryouts and it said you were proud of me either way.

paying for everything my entire childhood.

taking care of me every time I had the flu, a sinus infection, ear infection, streap throat, h-pylori, pnemonia, cramps, and any other childhood illness I ever had, including every other Halloween when I got sick!

paying for so many airline tickets, even one I lost. Why am I bringing that up?

enrolling me in an alternative elementary and then supporting my decision to transfer schools in sixth grade. Not many parents would agree to that!

letting me be an angst-riden teenager and stay in my room for hours, listening to Smashing Pumpkins.

getting me a limo as a surprise for my 16th birthday.

shopping for (and finding!) my wedding dress.

riding up the hill with me on the way to my wedding ceremony and telling me I looked beautiful and holding my hand.

waiting to make sure I was at home/with my husband/okay to tell me my Great Grandma and Grandpa died.

the books you buy for my classroom.

letting me vent about work.

chaperoning field trips.

showing me a woman can be successful in the home and in her career.

always telling me I was great.

loving me.

Happy Mother's Day!