The Treasure of a Mother’s Love is Priceless

Dear Momma,

Happy Mother’s Day! Today, I get to celebrate the woman who has loved me unconditionally for fifty-five years. Some of my fondest childhood memories are those which didn’t cost a dime. Thank you for teaching me to be creative and use my imagination. Thank you for allowing me to color, paint and play in the dirt, where I made you the most delicious mud pies filled with rocks. Thank you for always making me believe it was the most delicious thing you ever ate.

Thank you for taking me on long walks in the woods and teaching me how to enjoy nature. I really enjoyed our conversations about the alien goo on the trees. Speaking of trees, thank you for teaching me the joy of riding a tree like I was a cowgirl in training. Thank you for teaching me not to be afraid of picking up a rock to see what was underneath, even when there was a snake and I would run away screaming like a girl. Thank you for teaching me about birds, their calls and bird nests. It is a gift I still treasure to this day.

Thank you for taking me to the pond with a bamboo pole and teaching me how to put a worm on a hook. Thank you for taking the bullheads off my fishing line so I wouldn’t get stung. Thank you for catching tadpoles and letting me watch them turn into frogs. Thank you for catching lightning bugs with me and teaching me to smear them on my clothes so I could glow in the dark. Those were some great science lessons.

Thank you for teaching me the difference between stars, UFO’s and planes. Did I ever tell you how afraid I was that we were going to be invaded by aliens? I know the alien goo was proof they landed, but I’m grateful we weren’t invaded.

Thank you for handing me a recipe card and telling me to bake my own cookies. It made me feel good to know how much you enjoyed my baking, but then again you enjoyed my mud pies too. One of my favorite things you baked for me was your Duncan Hines Chocolate Devil’s Food cake with the Jiffy vanilla icing. It is amazing what 2 eggs and some oil can do!

Thank you for teaching me how to cook. Your fried potatoes are the best. Thank you for never using margarine, but always using butter or Crisco in everything and on everything. Thank you for teaching me not everything has to be homemade to be delicious. Your Ragu spaghetti sauce with extra spices is still my favorite sauce today. People still compliment me on my sauce and I always tell them it is my mom’s secret recipe. Don’t worry Mom, your secret is safe with me. Thank you for teaching me that nothing is ever burned, it is just crispy.

Thank you for being a boss mom before your time, who started your own business and were very successful. Thank you for teaching me just because I was a girl didn’t mean I had limitations, and I could do anything I wanted as along as I stayed committed. Thank you for making me a fashionista by adding fringe to my clothing because I was growing faster than we could afford to buy new clothes, but it was cool! I look at today’s fashion and know it was you and I that started this trend!

Thank you for the gift of singing, and for teaching me how to harmonize with anyone. You truly put a song in my heart for eternity. I’m sorry I wasn’t a great student on the guitar, but I did get those maracas and triangle down. Thank you for always singing me to sleep when I was sick. Thank you for having them write a song for me called, “Sweet Little Sheila.”  My friends are still jealous 😊

Thank you for letting me crawl in bed with you when Dad left for work. It was always the best snuggling up with you, and it still is the best! Thank you for never kicking us out of your bed when Jon would come in and we would keep you up laughing or pull up your eyelids to see if you were awake.

Thank you for going sleigh riding with us and not getting mad when we tracked snow all through the house. Thank you for making the best snowmen ever. Thank you for Kool-Aid and fried potatoes. Can you tell I really love your fried potatoes? I can almost taste them right now.

Thank you for always letting me pick out my box of cereal on grocery night. I loved my Quisp cereal and Cocoa Puffs. Thank you for McDonald’s on Thursday nights after grocery shopping. It was the highlight of my week. Thank you for allowing us one bag of candy a week.

Thank you for teaching me to laugh at myself and not take myself too seriously. Thank you for teaching me that laughter can make a world of problems go away. Thank you for teaching me a smile and a hug can change a person’s life. Thank you for teaching me that we all have a reason to smile even on our worst days.

Thank you for kissing every skinned knee, bandaging every boo boo, nursing every sunburn, wiping and kissing my tears away. Thank you for holding my hand and never letting go of me, except that one time at the Halloween parade. I was so happy when you found me at Philadelphia Sales. Now, it is me holding your hand as we cross the street and I promise to never let you go until you are ready.

Thank you, Mom, for teaching me that honesty is the best policy even when it hurts. Mom, there will never be enough thank you’s to tell you everything I am grateful for that you have given, taught or demonstrated to me. Thank you for teaching me we can disagree, but still love one another. Thank you for teaching me I don’t have to be perfect to be loved.  I can’t tell you how many times I have thanked God for the beautiful mother He chose to give to me because He knew you would be perfect for me.

Thank you for admitting when you made a mistake. This gave me the permission to tell you when I made a mistake. Thank you for not judging every decision I have made as your adult child and allowing me to find my own way. Thank you for forgiving me for every time I messed up or hurt your feelings.

Thank you for all your words of wisdom and wit. You have given me a perspective on life like no other. I will forever cherish the way you see the world. Thank you for teaching me that farting isn’t an embarrassment, it is a necessity. Thank you for never being too old to try anything once.

Thank you, Mom, for passing along your lipstick obsession to me. For years as a child, I would watch you in the mirror as you applied your lipstick, marveling at the transformation. Today, I do the same thing and I can’t leave the house without it. Yes, I am my mother’s daughter.

Thank you, Mom, for showing me what it means to be strong even when you don’t feel like it. You are the bravest woman I know. You have faced adversity time and time again but refused to let the world knock you down.

Thank you, Mom, for teaching me a stranger is just a friend you haven’t met yet. Wendy’s is proof of that as you have welcomed all those who were sitting alone to sit with you and they have become your friends!

Most of all, thank you Mom for introducing me to Jesus. You gave me the most precious gift my heart could ever receive. A mother's love is something you hold in your heart forever Share on XA mother’s love is something you hold in your heart forever and that is where you will always stay.

Finally, thank you mom for always being the sparkle! You were born a star and you will leave this earth as an even brighter star leaving a trail of stardust behind you so I’ll know how to find you!

To all those who mother in various ways,  Happy Mother’s Day! Keep on Sparkling! The world needs to see your shine!