To all moms, happy Mother's Day.

Like all people I have a mother that I was born to.  I know that she loves me and I love her too.  I will always remember playing in the snow as a child and have her call us in to wrap up in a big fluffy blanket and rocking us and playing guitar for us until we were warm enough to go outside again.  I will always appreciate her being my Girl Scout leader,  being there for me at choir performances, and for the time she painted a moon on my bedroom wall in glitter paint.  But for several reasons I don't intend to go into now she is not the only mother I have had.



My mother and I opening presents, for some reason I can't remember when this was.

My mother and I at my wedding.

 

Her mother, my grandma T took me in and I lived with her for the second half of my 8th grade year.  I honestly don't remember much from that time in my life, lets call it selective memory.  I am sure I was a huge pain in the butt because frankly what preteen girl isn't?  But I know she did her best, put me in the best school available, and opened her home to my brother and I even though she didn't have to. She dealt with requirements, classes, and court dates and me a girl grieving a situation I could never get back.  And I will love her forever.

 

My grandma and grandpa T at my wedding.

Grandma T holding baby girl.

 

Then I lived with my grandma B during my high school years.  She gave me the love, space, and independence I needed.  She gave me a home with yummy food, family dinners, and a lot of beauty.  She was there through several things, like some people I really care about being arrested,  my uncle dying, and high school which is pretty hard alone.  She has been my hero for along time for the way she is the glue that holds that whole side of my family together.

Grandma and Grandpa B at my wedding.

 

Grandma B holding Dravyn, her first great grand baby.

 

After high school I went to college and met an amazing man who is now my husband, and I gained another mother.  A mom who helped plan our wedding, asked for details after every prenatal and baby appointment at the doctor, who is a lifesaver for taking baby girl off my hands when I feel like I am going to rip my hair out, and who deals with us still being in her house after what was supposed to be "just a little while" but has been 3 years.

The mother and Father In law.

 

Mother in-law with Dravyn on her first day.

 

But I also have my Mummy.  She may biologically be my aunt, but she is so much more.  She took care of me before I was old enough to go to school, she always is there when i need advice, knows all kinds of things about me,  always welcomes us for visits, and is the one who I wanted with me the day I became a mommy.  She is Dravyn's Grummy, and is a great mom to her other 3 daughters.



Mummy and Dravyn on her first day.

Mummy helping me get my shoes on before my wedding.

Me and Hawaiian Mummy.  Did I mention she is always up for my crazy ideas?

 

I hope that I give my daughter all the love these women have showed me, and that when she gets older she feels as lucky to have me as I do to have them.  Being a mother is not easy, it is constant worry and constant chaos, but also constant love.  I wish every mother a happy Mother's Day and hope someone else does the dishes.