Dear Mom

May 09, 2015

Today is your birthday. You turn 60. It is so hard to think of you as a little baby, a young beautiful mother's first child. But, I have a pretty good imagination so I am going to do it anyway. I am sure you were a really cute little thing. Blond haired, like the pictures I saw of you as a toddler.

I know you told me you liked to dance. You were always dancing around. You liked to stay out of trouble, and you ended up babysitting a lot. I think you didn't have much of a childhood. You grew up fast, and with music.

Singing.

You know how I think of dad with a mustache even though he shaved it 20 years ago? I think of you singing. I thought you were so beautiful. My mother, holding her guitar, singing the alto line of any song. I thought you were the best singer in the whole world.

I remember you playing the piano while I danced in Mrs. Wong's ballet class. I sure hated ballet, but I thought you were an amazing pianist. You played so many different kinds of songs while I ran around as fast as I could, pretending I was an airplane or whatever it is we did in there. I was only in dance for the outfit. But, you were really a magnificent piano player.

You played the guitar at your Massage Therapy graduation. Remember how you sang, "Forever Young?" You loved that song, and that time of your life. I could imagine you staying that way forever, holding your guitar with your blond hair and your voice vibrating.

I never knew how hard being a mom was. When I was a little girl, I was pretty sure you were my slave. What else were you there for if not to obey my every whim? I didn't understand the worry, the constancy, the all-encompassing feeling of little people depending on you for so much.

Remember when you said you were taking a day off? You said it in the morning, and we all laughed. I think you put out cornflakes for breakfast. You rarely gave us cereal. I can't believe you made us three meals a day. Wow. Anyway, taking the day off? I totally get it now.

I hope you know you were a good mom. You loved us. You loved all of us, and you would have done anything you could to make sure we were taken care of. You gave us so much of yourself, and invested your greatest effort into your children. You did a good job.

Happy mother's day, mom. Happy Birthday. I like how they are almost the same day for you. It is like the calendar is telling you that were born to be a mother. It is like God knew from the beginning that was what you wanted to be.