Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day is an important day to me.  Not because of gifts given or received, or the fact that we went out to eat.  It is not even the wonderful cards I have received throughout the years.  My kids made some precious cards, and sometimes still do, which I love to get out every once in a while and read.  I have saved them all, whether handmade or store bought.  One year, and this is my favorite, they turned our kitchen in NC into a "Mother's Day Cafe", complete with a sign draped over the doorway from the family room to the kitchen!  It was precious!  That sign stayed there for years, finally coming down when we moved out of that house.  I never got tired of looking at it, nor did it's meaning diminish over the years.  When we moved back to Florida I tried to hang it over the door again.  But, by then they were in middle school and would have suffered major social setbacks if their friends had seen it!  So it went into my box of Mommy Treasures. 

Mother's Day is important to me because it is about a legacy.  When my children thank me on Mother's Day for being their mom and all of the things I did, I can't help but think of the person I have to thank for setting such a fine example for me, my mom!

My mom's name is Neva, which is my name spelled backwards.  Well, my name is her name spelled backwards, but you get the idea!  She is a wonderful mom and a best friend.  She, along with my dad, provided a loving home in which my sister, Rhondi, and I grew up.  She is one of the toughest women I know!  She is a cancer survivor, and has had both knees replaced.  She has burried two wonderful husbands and my sister.  While I have seen her go through pain and grieve, I have never seen her lose her faith in God.  She is such a source of strenght to me, not only in her faith, but in her example.

I come from a long line of strong southern women on both sides of my family.  They are some of the toughest women I know.  They are also some of the most ladylike.  Combining the two is a lost art these days!  For me, it is the definition of Southern Style.  I remember once, when money was tight, I had a birthday party to go to.  My mom had bought a small gift for me to take (I can't even remember what it was), which she had wrapped in aluminum foil and decorated with ribbon scraps from her sewing room and fresh flowers from our yard.  I admit, I was thoroughly humiliated to have to carry a gift in homemade wrappings to a party full of 11 year olds!  (Admittedly, not my proudest moment.  But what can I say?  I was 11 and very good at it!!)  Well, I don't even remember the reaction to the gift itself, but the presentation was a hit!  If that is not a lesson in Southern Style, I don't know what is!  And I won't even get started on her cooking, which is to die for!

To my mom, thank you for setting such a fine example of what a mother should be!  Without your example, my children would not be the wonderful adults they are today. 

To our oldest duaghter, Brittney, who is celebrating her first Mother's Day, we are so proud of your and the job you are doing raising Julianna!  Keep up the good work!

To all of the other mothers out there, I hope you have a beautiful Mother's Day!