Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my Mom's birthday.

I'm one of those lucky people who has the best Mom ever.  She was the cookie baking, brownie troop leader who dyed my milk green on St Patrick's Day.  She was the morning serenading cheery "it's a great day" kind of mom who sang of sunshine and pretty buttercups (much to my dismay in my teenage years.)  She was the constant encourager, the Mom who told me I could do anything.  She was the Mom who bought me a piano at age 6 and signed me up for lessons.  She was also the Mom who let me quit soccer in first grade because I didn't like playing with "those rough boys."  I have wonderful memories of driving to the beach with my Mom, with the top down, singing along to the radio.  Going to Holmdel Park as a kid, Mom laughing as I rolled down the grassy hills or fed the ducks.  I never doubted for one moment how much my Mom loved me, and that nothing I did could diminish that love.

My mom has the biggest heart.  She is not only the best Mom, but a wonderful friend to everyone she meets.  She has a way of making a stranger feel like a close friend in a matter of minutes.  She loves meeting new people and exploring new places.  She loves to shop.  She loves to read.  She loves to laugh and share a glass of wine with friends.  She loves life.

And she loves her 3 grandchildren.  Loves.  I mean the crawl-through-broken-glass, strangle-someone-with-her-bare-hands-to-protect-them kind of love.  I am certain that Sarah Beth, for one, know this, as she lights up whenever Grandma is in the room.  I hope they will have many years of silliness, secrets, and sleepovers to look forward to together.

I hope more than anything that I will be the kind of mother to Sarah Beth that my Mom is to me.

I love you Mom.  I am so proud to be your daughter. 
Happy Birthday!