What THIS Mother's Day Means to Me

What better time to make my blogging return than on THIS special day?!?!  Today is a day of celebrations.  I celebrate my own mother, who has been our family's rock for as long as I can remember.  She is the picture of joy.  Storm clouds in the distance on our beach vacation, you say?  "Oh, it will pass.  We will just watch a movie then we will have all afternoon to hang out on the beach."  A crush isn't interested in you?  "He's silly anyway--who wouldn't want a gorgeous gal like you?!"  A broken arm on the first day of summer break?  "We will just decorate your cast and make it really pretty and wrap it in a trash bag when you go swimming.  It will be off in NO time, kiddo!"  The ever-present, glass 3/4 full optimist and I love every square inch of her.  She's held my hand through thick and thin, supported my dad during his health issues with diabetes and heart disease, and encouraged my brother as he got older and the job market got smaller.  She is my biggest fan, constant supporter, and the kindest, most loving, loyal, and supportive person I know.  For some reason, God chose her to be mine. :)

I celebrate Josh's mother, whose life was taken in a senseless robbery a month before his 2nd birthday.  What a man he has turned out to be.  I know she is looking down on him just beaming with pride and admiration and her heart is filled with love for the little boy she once knew who has turned into an amazing man, teacher, friend, husband, and father.  How I wish they could have had more time together.  Who knows why these things happen?  Only God, and as tough as it may seem, it isn't for us to question.  It makes me smile to think of the day they will be reunited again and have all of eternity to catch up with one another.

I celebrate Josh's grandmother, who took him in the day his mother died and never left his side.  She raised him to be the wonderful person he is today and always shared her strong Christian beliefs, guiding him to continue on the right path.  She raised five children of her own and has already had to bury two of them.  She has seen more than a fair share of heartache, but life isn't about fairness.  She continues to look to God and has never turned from Him, even in her darkest times.  She is someone to admire and aspire to be like and I'm so thankful to have her in my life.

And today I also celebrate me.  Today is a day I thought I might never get to celebrate.  I distinctly remember the tears flowing on this day last year, then feeling shallow and selfish because I had made such an important day into something about myself and what my life was missing.  When my angel was sent to me last August, my whole world changed.  And now, on this day every year, I have someone who will say, "Happy Mother's Day" to me.  I can't wait for the paint-splattered cards with the barely legible handwriting as a child all the way to the sappy card she will give me one day (after many mother-daughter fights) telling me she loves me and thanking me for what I've done for her.  I know there will be disagreements, arguments, tantrums, and disappointments on the road ahead but you know what?  After so, so many prayers, I get to travel that road.  And I get to travel it with Ryan Michelle, Josh, and God.  I can't imagine three better companions.