My Mom

When I was three my Mom had my hearing tested. I guess I was walking down the middle of the street one day and my Mom yelled at me to get out of the road and I showed no signs of having heard. Come to find out, my hearing was 20/20 or whatever perfect hearing is.
When I was 17 I drove two hours from home through the city of Denver to do an over-night visit to a college in Colorado Springs. I was supposed to call my Mom when I got there. I forgot. She didn't sleep all night.
When I was in college I would call her on the phone and cry to her about whatever boy I was dating or not dating anymore.
After college I went to Italy by myself for ten days. I couldn't figure out how the pay phones worked so I didn't call my Mom the whole time I was there. I did run out of money and had to spend my last night curled up around a toilet in the airport bathroom - seemed safer than sleeping at the subway station.
My Mom was there after I had my first baby who wasn't getting enough to eat which made him cry a lot which made me not sleep a lot. She was there when my second baby came out with a broken leg. She was there the day before I had my third baby when I swore and threw my phone across the living room of a tiny apartment in Kansas after the labor department said they didn't have enough room to induce me that day. I was 11 days overdue.
My Mom was also there when I came down with a strep rash all over my arms, chest, neck and face at a time when I was caring for three kids four and under by myself.
Being a Mom is tough. Just imagining the world picking on one of my kids can get me to real life, ridiculous tears. Thank you Mom for supporting me in everything I do, especially in the frustrating times and the hard times when it is the heart-breakingest but most-important time to be a Mom. I want to be like you and I love you!