Happy Mother's Day!!!

This is a portrait of my mother from 1959. She was only 14. As much as I love Mother's Day because I am now a mother and have waited my entire life to receive handmade cards, frog magnets, bath salts, colored flower pot and a brick made into a butterfly...(yes, those were my gifts this year)I hate it because I miss my mother terribly! She was taken from us very suddenly and unexpectedly 7 years ago. Sometimes it seems like yesterday and sometimes it seems almost like she was never here. But not a day goes by that I don't think about her. I owe everything I am to her. Her life was us and it showed ever day. There is so much I want to share on this post about my beautiful mother but then it will never end. For now I will share these letters that she saved. I didn't find them or even knew that she had saved them until we were going through some of her things. But boy, do I remember writing them! She always kept a pad. She used them to keep reminders for herself, shopping lists, and thoughts. When I was 10 years old I a wrote to her in the middle of the pad. A few days later I checked the pad and noticed she wrote me a note back. For weeks this went on and neither one of us ever spoke about it. One letter she thanks me for helping with the dishes, another telling me she hopes that "today brings you all the happiness you want while at school". I wrote one thanking her for leaving me a smurf! But in every letter not only did she respond to what I wrote, she left me with some advice. Here is one that I will never forget. "...and remember, always act like a lady, but never stop being a little girl." I think it's beautiful!As hard as it was and sometimes still is to get over loosing my best friend, I realized what a wonderful gift I had been given. One day it hit me...I have all of these wonderful memories and so much advice that my mother worked so hard at. How can I not pass all of this on to my own children? Everyday I live my life as a dedication to my mother. Whether it's a recipe of hers or a game that she played with me that I now play with my boys. I do it as if she is watching me. I want to make her proud and show her that I hope to be as wonderful as a mother as she was to me! And you know what...I know she is watching! That is another post!

Happy Mother's Day to all of my dear blog friends who believe it or not, have helped me fill some of that void in my life!