My Amazing Mom

I have been out of town for a couple of weeks.

And when I got home,

it was time to celebrate my Mom's birthday!

And now (better late than never)

it's time to honor her here.

(It's gotten to be sort of a tradition...)

This is my beautiful Mom.

I was thinking the other day about some of

my memories of my Mother.

My memory did a giant time skip and went back

to the EARLY days.

When we were in elementary school.

The teachers in Calgary went on strike,

right at the beginning of the school year.

So Mom kicked into gear,

set up a table in front of the fireplace in the basement,

set up her sewing machine,

invited a couple of girls from the neighborhood

(Moanna and Lani I think...)

and taught us to sew!

She has always been an amazing seamstress

and we were all taught how to sew and many of

us continue to make clothing today.

(I don't sew much now - but I DID sew lots of

clothes for my kids when they were small...

Such a blessing!)

It's a skill I'm grateful for.

And I especially appreciate her patience in teaching us.

I taught my Activity Day Girls how to sew a simple

straight seam (to make a t-shirt bag)

and BOY does that take patience!

That's a pretty typical story of my Mom.

She was always ready to jump in and help out.

No matter what the need might be,

she saw it, analyzed it, figured out a way to fix it,

and went into action.

She still does.

The greatest tribute will always be the giant

punch bowl full of cards and letters from all

the people she has helped in ways great and small

over the years.

When word got out she was battling cancer,

the letters and cards started pouring in.

Each with a personal note sharing a time she did

something to make their day / life brighter.

What a great example of selfless love and service.

She and her beautiful sister, Karen, are such great

examples to me and my beautiful sisters.

(although they are better at remembering to take pictures

than we are...  I was with two of my sisters last week.

None of us took a SINGLE picture of us together!)

(Yes, I know Mom - shame on us!!!!)

Guess we'll just have to get together again...

Oh the horrors!

(grin)

Happy Belated Birthday to my Loving Mother!

I love you dearly Mom!!