Thank You Momma

I drag my heavily soaked brush down from the top of the doorway as if I'm steadily yanking down the ripest apple from the top of the tree, the strong musk of latex wafting into my nostrils. In my now almost completely robin's egg blue kitchen (used to be frowning caveman green), I stand and look up at my mom on my husband's shaky wooden ladder. With her roller to the wall, she laughs as Travis and I sing, well yodel/scream, our way through the brilliant Imogean Heap's 'Hide & Seek.' While still giggling she manages to yell out, "You guys! Shut up!!" With an agreeing glance toward each other, Travis and I crank our singing volume way up, being the immature conspiring brats that we are. Still laughing, she continues to paint.

***

I don't say thank you enough, Mom. I mean, I know I say it in those obvious big times like when you stay a weekend at my house, putting your intensely busy life on hold just to paint my kitchen. But what about the little times? Those seemingly small but significant moments.

Thank you for being a friend, a mother all of us children feel comfortable enough to tease, harass, pull pranks on - with the only response being laughter and the occasional smack on the shoulder.

Thank you also for being pretty weak so those smacks on the shoulder don't ever hurt.

Thank you for always trying to smother me with kisses everytime I hug you (I swear you do it now just because you know I don't like it).

Thank you for stopping me from pulling the heads off my barbies. You may have put an end to some serious crime in my future.

Thank you for letting me quit ballet when I had to dance with that.. boy. Cooties.

Thank you for learning how to teach just so you could help your own children. Thank you for those after-hours school sessions at the kitchen table every day. They did pay off, for all of us.

Thank you for sleeping beside me in the hospital when my kidneys were failing. And buying me the sparkly blue Crest toothpaste just because I wanted it.

Thank you for cuddling up next to a sleepy, grumpy teen in the mornings, poking and bugging me until I would wake up, finally threatening with the spray bottle.

Thank you for fighting me every step of the way from seeing a certain young boy. You were right, he was a bad apple.

Thank you for putting our hobbies and sports, our "Mooom, I have to have it" brand name clothes, our tears, our future, everything first. Even with no time, minimal energy and little money - your boys and daughter always came first.

Thank you for that still being the case.

Thank you for calming me down when I had a public melt down over a wedding dress.

But more importantly, thank you for truly loving the man I married. Your relationship with Travis makes my heart smile.

Thank you for supporting my always changing mind and my new crazy and crazier endeavours.

I think I've come to expect you to pull through everytime I need you because you have never let me down. But I shouldn't expect it, you don't have to do many of the wonderful million things you do. You are special and the way you treat your children is special. For all the times I don't say it, thank you Mom. I love and enjoy who you are.

PS. Happy Mother's Day to all you mommas out there (yes, I'm one day late on this post but I mean it all the same).