Happy Birthday, Mama Mia! {I love my mom, because...}

Oh dear. One year and one day since my last post. What better way to get back on the boat ... or whatever people say about getting back into blogging (is it still even called that?) than in celebration / honor of my dear mother's birthday!? I would write her age too, but I honestly don't remember how old she is. I think just remembering her birth date this year is good enough.

For starters, here's a word-cloud that includes some of the many positive adjectives I'd use to describe my mother. I just learned about Wordle a few weeks ago, and thus far my customer review is -- wahoo! 

 And now a million more words + pictures and a kinda-Buzzfeed-style list of 20 things I love about my mom. Or, elementary-school-style title - 

I love my mom because...

1. SHE HAS SUCH A GOOD HEART
She's so great with children. I'm not yet. That's why I cut the newborn baby out of the picture. Also because I can't remember which of Liz & Nick's kids this is. And THAT'S NOT THE POINT. The point is, I think babies and animals can supposedly tell if people are good or something, right? Well, even though most grown human strangers are terrified of my mother's resting face, people who know her and babies who don't yet feel her love and goodness.

2. SHE'S SO TACKY
She has no shame re: her love for ... cheesy / tacky stuff like this ... Then again, who doesn't want a giant button with their faces on it?! I can't count the number of shirts we've given my dad that have all our faces on it and some phrase like, "Dad's Trophies" that connects to whatever spray-painted theme my mom thinks my dad will like. She's someone who goes overboard in the most odd ways, and I think it's absolutely perfect.

3. SHE'S FUN 
This pic was taken during a bathroom break we took during my new sister-in-law, Kara's, bachelorette party. Although her disgusting overshare of gross sex tips may have traumatized me for life, her love and talent for throwing custom and epic parties for people is something I'm so grateful to have inherited from her. She's SO fun to plan parties with. Really, so fun to brainstorm anything with.

4. SHE TRIES TO BRAND HER CHILDREN
She's obsessed with matching. For every.single.holiday. And sometimes just because. This pic was taken on Christmas Eve the year I refused to wear the matching sparkly vests everyone else was wearing. I guess now I kind of regret wearing those glasses more than I would have regretted wearing whatever she picked out for me.

5. SHE'S LOVELY INSIDE & OUT
She's just so beautiful, isn't she!? What I love more than my mother's radiating beauty in this picture is my memory of the moments before it was taken. It was Christmas last year, and after a long day of gifting and eating and napping - all of which my mother spearheads perfectly every year - we watched a movie (usually we watch "It's a Wonderful Life" on Christmas, but I think we watched that "Sound of Music - LIVE" thing this year instead) while I curled her hair. I remember feeling so grateful to have a mother who I can have fun with. It's just easy to be around her. 

6. SHE'S SELFLESS 
This was taken last Easter, I think. Maybe the Easter before that? Well, either 2012 or 2013. Regardless, the takeaway here is that I'm wearing her necklace. Which I borrowed without asking. Which means I still have it. Which I guess is kind of like stealing it. Which she pretends bothers her, but I know it flatters her. Actually, I guess it probably bugs her a little bit. Well, one of my favorite things about this woman is that she'll give up the clothes off her back, the food on her plate, the cute shoes on her feet, the comfortable couch beneath her mom butt, etc if someone else expresses an interest or need in it. She's someone who feels more joy in seeing that she's made someone else happy than she feels in having those things for herself.

7. SHE LOVES BEING ENTERTAINED
My mother has terrible rhythm, so she rarely dances. Her first born child, however, has exceptional dance skills and should have probably been a ballerina or hip hop choreographer. I secretly love how aggressively she pushes her children to get up and dance or entertain her in some way. Albeit uncomfortable/embarrassing, and although I don't always give in to her requests (demands), I think it's given my brothers and I a sense of fearlessness that makes life much more fun. Oh, and I think this pic was taken at my cousin Justin and his wife Amanda's wedding reception. 

8. SHE'S HOT
I just wrote "hot" to keep you reading. I don't really care that my mom is hot. But because this pic was taken during my cousin K.J.'s wedding reception, during which my friend Adam flirted with my MARRIED! MOTHER, I thought her hotness was a good way to tie everything together. Really what I'm grateful for here is that she's HEALTHY. Since I can remember, she's been someone who eats fairly well, exercises somewhat regularly, doesn't smoke or drink and can still kick most men's butts in any sport. If only she'd start wearing sunscreen, I think I'd be set for life in terms of not having to worry about.. you know...all those middle-aged parent health scares that pop up. I know this isn't about me (despite me being in every photo), but I'm really glad my mom's on the road to being a super spunky grandma, even if I wait another twenty years to procreate.

9. SHE'S STYLISH ON A BUDGET
My mom and I share a passion for (addiction to) shopping. But here's the thing! -- ur taste isn't too terribly expensive! We.love.sales. This pic was taken after my family going away dinner at The Fountain on Locust in Saint Louis (love), and I remember my mom strutting in like she was on the runway before telling me in great detail how little she spent on each article of clothing and accessory in which she had draped herself. Although my dad will forever remind us that we're not saving money just because we're buying stuff we don't need when it's on sale (I think he says it more eloquently. Like something you'd read on a 'how to budget' or 'getting over shopaholicism 101' type of book.), I love sharing this little hobby with her.

10. SHE LOVES SHOPPING
...well..and...again...matching... and I guess I already covered shopping in #9. Oh well, I just like this picture. My mom honestly wanted us to wear these matching outfits for Easter a few years ago. We didn't. 

11. SHE'S GOOD AT VACATION
Although my tendency is to make a lot of plans and then sleep through 3/4ths of them, my mother is amazing at making plans for the whole family and then somehow rallying us all together/waking us all up to follow through with them. OR just letting us sleep while she enjoys everything possible to enjoy by herself. This pic was taken when my family went to Mexico for my cousin Don and his wife Jayni's wedding last year. I arrived a bit later than everyone else, and when I arrived I got a detailed tour of the entire resort from my mother. In just a few hours she had scoped out the entire place, memorized the hours of operation and prices of every activity possible, invited half the staff to a volleyball tournament (that I think the Howard family athletes won while I hid in the shade and read a book about Psychopaths) and brainstormed three different options for how we could spend every hour we had there.

12. SHE'S THE BEST COOK IN THE WORLD
This pic was taken during a Mother's Day picnic a year or two or maybe three ago. My gift to her that year was a KitchenAid Mixer that I was re-gifting because I don't bake and which she also later re-gifted because she already owns like five. Anyway, she's a really good cook. She started a catering company when I was pretty young. Maybe middle school. I don't think my brothers, dad and I realize how lucky we are to have had a lifetime of this quality and quantity food that most people have to hire her to enjoy. I also feel like this may be a good place to mention how hilarious I think it is when I mention a menu item I try at a restaurant that my mom then manically tries to duplicate and then improve just so she can say she won. Also because she loves serving people and challenges and the art of cooking.

13. SHE'S A SURVIVOR
If a zombie apocalypse or the rapture or that one Will Smith movie plot ever happens, and I have to choose one partner to try to survive with, it'll be my mom. Although I'm pretty sure we'd kill each other before the world-problem beat us out, I think she'd be resourceful and strong and smart enough to get us to some safe place. She grew up sharing one bedroom with her six sisters, digging worms to make money for food and beating up anyone who bullied anyone else. Sooooo, I think she could take care of us. Sorry, dad. Can you be Steven's partner? 

14. SHE WISHES SHE WAS MY SISTER
I already talked about how tacky/cheesy she is, so this back-to-back pose should just reaffirm #2. And given the title of #14, you may think I'm going to make fun of how she sometimes tries to dress like she's a 14-year old. But alas, no, in #14 I want to share how young-at-heart my dear mother is. She's playful and joyful and loves games and imagination and dreaming and pranks. Although she's not my sister, no matter what she tell you!, she definitely has the spirit of the sister I always wanted (thanks, Donnie, for marrying Kara so I can have one now!) (and NO THANKS mom and dad for stopping at Steven ... you could have given me a baby sister if you hadn't stopped at 4!)

15. SHE THINKS I'M FUNNYEven when I'm not. Which is most of the time.  

16. SHE BRINGS OUT THE BEST IN PEOPLEShe believes in my brothers, my dad and I in this sort of insane confidence-boosting way that I don't know if I'll ever fully understand and certainly don't appreciate enough. She is just so good at seeing the best in people and then finding ways to empower them to fulfill their potential.

17. SHE LOVES CHRISTMAS
And she's passed on her love for Christmas to all of us. Even, I think, my dad a little bit. Without her, he'd surely be a real-life Scrooge. But over the years, I can tell he's grown to love that every inch of our home is covered in Christmas decor from November 25th 'til the beginning of January. 

18. SHE'S COMPETITIVE 
Not quite as intense as my dad, but close. She loves winning. And she usually does. Except when she's playing against me.

19. SHE LOVES MY DAD
I remember the first time I realized how romantic love was supposed to work... I was really young, I think pre-elementary school, and I had overheard my mom and dad arguing. A few minutes post-argument, my mom and I made everyone's lunches (well, I probably watched while she made them) for work and school the next day, and I asked her why she'd make dad's lunch if she was mad at him. My little bratty mind thought it made sense to punish him or something I guess. She explained that people who choose to love each other forever like she and my dad did when they got married may still get mad at each other, but that doesn't mean they don't love each other. And even though it's hard to do nice things for people when you're mad at them, that's when it's especially important for you do to those nice things. She admitted to me that even though she was mad at my dad, she was probably more mad at herself for whatever she did wrong in the context of that argument and for how stubborn she was in delaying her apology. I don't remember exactly what she said or how she said it, but as I think back to that experience, I imagine her spreading peanut butter and jelly on bread as she calmly and wisely as anything. I don't think she realized how influential those few moments would be for me. I'm so lucky to have a handful of anecdotes like that one that have collectively taught me what a good marriage looks like - either because they did it right, or because they did it terribly wrong and realized it. So if I ever mess up a marriage, I need to come up with another excuse besides MY PARENTS to tell my therapist.

20. SHE LOVES HER FAMILY
And it shows in everything she does. Well, except sometimes when she's like, "can I please get some peace and quiet!?!?" But she hasn't screamed that at us for a few years. I think she likes it now when we steal food off her plate and ask her at the last possible second to make us chocolate-covered strawberries for our work thing and text her at 4am to ask her to wake us up in three hours and ... you get it. She loves us despite or maybe at this point because of allllll the times we forget to tell her how much we love her.

Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you (even when I say I hate you).