Dear mommy,
How you managed to raise seven kids without losing (all of) your sanity, I’ll never know, but here are some things I do know about you:
1. Some of my earliest memories are those of your selflessness, when little 2-or-3-year-old me would come into your room almost every night and you would let me sleep between you and dad, probably making your arm go numb since I would rest my head on it instead of using a pillow. You sacrificed countless nights of comfortable rest for the sake of your little ones’ comfort.
2. You’re a professional at solving (the very seldom) arguments between your kids,, but with that comes the acknowledgement that you somehow raised your kids in a way so that we all worked cooperatively instead of competitively (which partially explains why none of us kiddos got into competitive sports)
3. you have the power to fix up a delicious, professional-grade dinner from a bunch of mismatched, random foods in the fridge. Everyone knows that you should be on food network with a show called “real cooking with ana: the art of improvisational dinners”
4. You claim you aren’t a good artist, but you’re better than most everyone I’ve ever met. Not just anyone has a master’s degree in aesthetics.
5. Although you say you’re no baker, 3/4 of your daughters have turned out out as fantastic bakers (not i, though i try), and all of your kids have inherited at least some of your skill in the kitchen.
6. Despite thinking you’re strict, you let me get most of the pets I asked for as a kid(all of the reasonable ones), and that immensely helped me to deal with personal responsibilities, the reward of training, loss, and failure from an early age.
7. You always put food in the microwave for way too long.
8. If gone unchecked, you’ll fill up the dishwasher too much so that everything gets half cleaned (good thing you’ve got plenty of kiddos to help w/ quality control)
9. You should take more credit for how individually awesome all your kids have become! I mean, not many moms can say they have raised their kids who turned as a software developer, multiple teachers and caregivers, a US marine, an aspiring nun, and a world renowned illustrator... maybe that last one is still a work in progress. 😉
10. You breathe life into any environment you’re in. Whether it’s a new home, a church, a school, a moms’ group, or a garden, your presence and hard work shows so plainly to all. Some people have a “green thumb”, while in the same way you have a “green” soul 🙂
I love you mom. Sorry that you’re probably crying by now,, maybe dad is reading this post out loud to you at this point haha (let me know if I predicted that accurately). I just wanted to make sure that you remember, on your first birthday without kiddos at home in a very long time, that we all love you and can never thank you enough for being such a wonderful role model to so many people in this world. I hope dad treats you to some Indian food tonight! After all, they can’t blame you for spilling the rice on your birthday 😉
1. Some of my earliest memories are those of your selflessness, when little 2-or-3-year-old me would come into your room almost every night and you would let me sleep between you and dad, probably making your arm go numb since I would rest my head on it instead of using a pillow. You sacrificed countless nights of comfortable rest for the sake of your little ones’ comfort.
2. You’re a professional at solving (the very seldom) arguments between your kids,, but with that comes the acknowledgement that you somehow raised your kids in a way so that we all worked cooperatively instead of competitively (which partially explains why none of us kiddos got into competitive sports)
3. you have the power to fix up a delicious, professional-grade dinner from a bunch of mismatched, random foods in the fridge. Everyone knows that you should be on food network with a show called “real cooking with ana: the art of improvisational dinners”
4. You claim you aren’t a good artist, but you’re better than most everyone I’ve ever met. Not just anyone has a master’s degree in aesthetics.
5. Although you say you’re no baker, 3/4 of your daughters have turned out out as fantastic bakers (not i, though i try), and all of your kids have inherited at least some of your skill in the kitchen.
6. Despite thinking you’re strict, you let me get most of the pets I asked for as a kid(all of the reasonable ones), and that immensely helped me to deal with personal responsibilities, the reward of training, loss, and failure from an early age.
7. You always put food in the microwave for way too long.
8. If gone unchecked, you’ll fill up the dishwasher too much so that everything gets half cleaned (good thing you’ve got plenty of kiddos to help w/ quality control)
9. You should take more credit for how individually awesome all your kids have become! I mean, not many moms can say they have raised their kids who turned as a software developer, multiple teachers and caregivers, a US marine, an aspiring nun, and a world renowned illustrator... maybe that last one is still a work in progress. 😉
10. You breathe life into any environment you’re in. Whether it’s a new home, a church, a school, a moms’ group, or a garden, your presence and hard work shows so plainly to all. Some people have a “green thumb”, while in the same way you have a “green” soul 🙂
I love you mom. Sorry that you’re probably crying by now,, maybe dad is reading this post out loud to you at this point haha (let me know if I predicted that accurately). I just wanted to make sure that you remember, on your first birthday without kiddos at home in a very long time, that we all love you and can never thank you enough for being such a wonderful role model to so many people in this world. I hope dad treats you to some Indian food tonight! After all, they can’t blame you for spilling the rice on your birthday 😉
Love,
Number seven
Number seven
No comments:
Post a Comment