Thursday Thank Tank

In honor of Peach who is on a God-directed bloggy break...

Laurel's entry for Thankful Thursday today has a Mothers' Day theme. So, I thought I'd steal borrow that idea as well.

My relationship with my mom is complicated. We're so much alike and yet so different. And, especially since the Vikings have arrived, it's often hard for her and I to feel like we're speaking the same language much less in the same conversation. However, here are some of the things I'm thankful for in her:

1. She works...HARD! Since I was in single digits, my mom's been a single working mom. I remember my mom never stopping. There's was always more to do. Looking back now as a stay-at-home myself, I can't figure out how she got it all done!

2. She's always tried to give people what she thought they needed. Cookies, flowers, cards, small gifts - you name it, my mom's probably given it to someone.

3. While I absolutely hated it at the time, she made me do chores. As the only other person in the house, it makes sense *now* that I should have pitched in. *wink* But, at the time, I was often very put out by having to put my busy social calendar on hold. As I train up these two little warriors, I *get it* now 25 years later.

4. I'm thankful that despite offering to buy me a car if I went to the state university 20 minutes away (which I refused), she allowed her only child, a daughter, to go over an hour and half away to a Big Ten university to grow up and figure out what I might do with my life.

5. Finally...and this will probably sound weird but I am SO thankful she sent me away to summer sleep-away camp...several times! LOL I'm sure money was extrememly tight but she always manage to rustle up the money to send me to Youth Camp. I spent 8 glorious summers as a camper, 2 as a cook's aide, and several more as staff. Sadly, the camp has been replaced by a golf course. *sniff, sniff* But, in return for my mom's investment, I have my best friend of 31 years; a love for outdoors, camping, and canoeing (which in turn "won" me a husband); and so many years of memories from that magical time before our individual innocence is lost as well as our societial innocence where kids could go away for a week and parents could trust that their children would come back in one piece and not have to worry about SPF levels, food allergies, lawsuits, and waterfront accidents.

So, thanks, Mom! See you Saturday! Happy (early) Mothers' Day!