Like Mother, LIke Daughter

It's my Mom's Birthday today!!! And let me just tell you my mom is great, like really great. (hence my title) Like when we were younger she would put banana chunks in the milk on April Fool's and make us green pancakes on St. Patricks Day. When she picked us up from school and stuff, on the way home in our neighborhood, she would swerve all over the street, and our friends told us we had the coolest mom ever....because well duh, of course we did.

She would dance in the car, sing at the top of her lungs, and get in water fights with us.
When we were little she would sing us to sleep, and when we were older she would wake us up with really annoying songs. Like this one for instance. "Good morning merry sunshine, why did you rise so soon, you used to rise at 10:00 o'clock and now you rise at noon!" My sister hated that song and said that it didn't even make sense.

My mom was super woman. She could do anything and she knew EVERYTHING. No but seriously. One time my sister asked her if there were dogs when she was little. My mom said "No Maegan, I played with Dinosaurs." My sister believed her. Another time my other sister, Heather, asked her what happens when a black person and white person have kids and my mom answered, "Well the kid looks like a Zebra." She believed her until she was a teenager.

Having 9 kids, my mom had about ummm ZERO alone time, so her alone time was when she went to bathroom. We would ask her questions through the door and she would ignore us because wouldn't you? So then we would write questions on pieces of paper and slide it under the door, and then she would write back and slide it back. How cute is that?! Note passing while your on the toilet! AND during her only moment of sanity all day. Now THAT is some serious love people.

I remember watching my mom at the computer as she would type. Her fingers moved a million miles an hour and I wanted more than anything to be able to type as fast as she could without looking at my hands. So I would pretend I could and I would sit at the computer with my hands on the keyboard and type jibberish without looking down, cause I loved the way it sounded and it made me feel smart like my mom. I remember when she would proof read our papers in junior high, and let me tell you, my papers were usually a SERIOUS struggle, and then she would get a hold of it and all of a sudden it was a masterpiece and then my teachers would praise me and I would take the credit, cause well, I couldn't just tell them my mom was the one that made me not sound like an imbecile.

I remember on Sunday's after Church we all wanted to go home and she would talk to the whole ward...twice. To this day, ANYWHERE I go people ask me how my mom is and then they tell me about how much they "just love her!" And of course they do! She is pretty much the funnest, greatest, friend a person could ask for.

Do you know what else I love about her? I love how much she loves food. Do you know why? Because I LOVE food more than most things. We could talk about different types of food and what we're craving for hours on end. I have this whole thing planned out, that one day SOON I'm going to take her on a vacation and all we're going to do is eat. We'll like go to fancy restaurants and pretend like we come from old money and we'll talk with accents and the whole restaurant staff will fall in love with us, and we will laugh hilariously at our waiter as we throw our heads back with champagne glass in hand, (filled with sparkling cider of course) and pinkies poked up. And then the middle aged man at the other table watching from afar, will fall in love with my mom, because of course he would, but then we will leave because this is a girls trip, duh. And oh my gosh I cannot wait! Seriously though.

Do you know what else I love? Yeah there's a lot. I love when she calls me and we talk about dating! It's so great! She asks my advice, (yeah my mom asks my advice about dating! I feel like so privileged) And then I tell her that if she doesn't like the guy then she needs to tell him this: "Talgan, you're perfect but just not perfect for me. It's not you, it's me. But can we still be friends?" And then she says she's too scared and she doesn't want to and I tell her that she needs to be a big girl and then she tells me she'll think about it. And then I talk to her a week later and she still hasn't done it. And then I tell her about a boy I'm dating and she gives all the same advice that I take too long to heed to, and then I laugh because we're the exact same.

But more than anything, I love this one memory that I have with her. We just sat. We sat on the porch swing and we talked. And I held onto her arm because it was freezing and because I love her, and no one else existed except for she and I. And we cried, and we laughed and we talked about life and we made up for lost time. (because well I was a teenager once, and let me just tell you, those were not my most glorious years) And that porch scenario by far, of any of my memories, is my most favorite memory with her.

And I can't wait to go visit her. I have so much more time to make up for. And we will sit on the porch. And do nothing. Together. And no one else will exist. Except she and I. Because that is what life is really about.

Gosh, I just love that woman. And I mean because how could you not?