Read in Jimmy Fallon "thank you notes" fashion:
Thank you, Mom, for literally being the only reason I use the word 'literally' correctly.
Thank you, Mom, for doing my science fair project [board] and making it look like I did it.
Whenever I think back on all the things my mom did for me I focus on the middle-high school years. I remember all the forgotten assignments brought to me at school, last-minute cramming late at night (hello science fair!), driving from orchestra to cross-country to soccer to basketball to mutual, and drinking green drinks (before they were popular, by the way) with 7-grain crockpot cereal in the morning. I am always so amazed and grateful for that.
One night I was up multiple times with each child and I kept thinking " You have no idea what I'm doing for you right now. You will never know how hard this is for me. You'll never even remember tonight- how I brought you water (Eliza), got soaked in spit up (Andrew), and rocked you for an hour to keep you from screaming (both). You will never appreciate this sacrifice because you will never remember tonight."
Then suddenly I realized that one time--- roughly 24 years ago, I too was a baby and had sweet mom who rocked me all night knowing that I would never remember it, and did it anyway.
When I think about all the things my mom has done for me I completely overlook the long tiring months of being pregnant (and the period of time of not being able to get pregnant), the long painful labor she did drug-free, and the sacrifice she made to leave teaching school to stay home with my siblings and me. Even if she did cry when she was told I was a girl, she still loved me. She nursed me no matter how painful it got. She rocked me to sleep every night so I could fall asleep happy. She woke up countless times in the night because I woke up countless times in the night. With my little brother (child #5!!) she would walk all night bouncing him because he would only sleep being held and would cry if she sat down. And then she had to get up early to get other kids to school! Once they were off she still had that baby and a three year old to take care of all day! And probably coached somebody's team in the afternoon! Plus she likely taught a few piano lessons or took the other kids to various sports/music practice. How?! How did she do it? How can someone be so sleep deprived and drained from giving literally everything they have into their family and just keep going day after day, year after year? I feel like I'm drowning with a newborn and a two year old. I can't even imagine having a new-born, a 3 year old, an 8 year old, an 11 year old, AND a 13 year old. A newborn AND a teenager? Now THAT'S what I call a super power!
She cleaned up mess after mess and cooked meal after meal after meal after meal after meal (repeat forever). The stress, the anxiety, the worry, the sleepless nights, the soccer games, the [boring] track meets, counting diapers and blocks to make sure nothing got lost and searching tirelessly until they were found. We give her a hard time about it but let's be honest--- I'm simply too lazy to care if all 80 Megablocks make it back into the toy box.
Moms, especially mine, deserve a serious shoutout for all the things they've done that have gone unnoticed and unappreciated for so long.
Thanks for the long, sleepless nights. All the meals, all the rides, all the meals, all the practices, games, and performances, all the doctors appointments, all the green drinks, herbal tea, foot massages, in-home hair color experiments, the parent teacher conferences, the meals, the trips, all the sports equipment, and the all the love. This list could go on forever (literally).
Thank you Mom.
(I love this picture of my Mom!)
