Happy Birthday Mom

I know that when someone you love has a birthday you are supposed to come up with as many nice things to say as years they are old. But this is my mom and I don't know if that is appropriate. Does she want everyone to know her age? She probably wouldn't care because she doesn't look anywhere near her age, but out of respect I will not tell you. I figure you all know she is at least 50. Since I am 32 there is no way she could be 29, but lets just say she is somewhere over 50. So I am going to tell you the 50 things I love about my mom.

1.She loves me
2.She loves her grandkids
3. She has a really good design sense.
4.She love beautiful things such as art, flowers, home furnishings and surrounds herself with these things.
5.She is a very hard worker, nice things don't generally come easy.
6.She is smart and has a wide vocabulary.
7.She knows how to cook even if she doesn't do it very often.
8.She raised me in the gospel
9.She has a testimony of Jesus Christ and the Plan of Salvation.
10.She has shared her knowledge and testimony with me.
11.She has trouble remembering whether things that happened in my childhood happened to me or my sister.
12.She keeps little dishes of candy around her house.
13.She loves to travel and lucky for me she used to take me places.
14.She likes to buy me clothes, and thank goodness she does or else I would have nothing appropriate to wear.
15.She love Walt Disney World.(Hmmmmmm do we know anyone else who loves WDW?)
16.She plays the piano and I have always felt blessed to have that in my home when I was growing up.
17.She does really well when she talks to Aidan on the phone. She is very good at keeping up a one way conversation if needed.
18.Although she didn't like to admit it she liked having pet cats.
19.She gives a lot of good advise, which would be easier to take if she wasn't usually right.
20.She is very well read.
21.She tried to expose me to culture when I was growing up.
22.She is very responsible.
23.She is funny but doesn't always know it.
24.She eat Cheerios everyday. (I mean EVERY day, expect one time when we were on vacation and she bought the generic kind at Piggly Wiggley-Pig Oats.)
25.She loves ice cream, especially Cherry Garcia.
26.She saw the Beatles in concert.
27.She likes to write letters. I mean really letters. Like the kind you have to put a stamp on. When I was in college she would send me three letters a week. Most of the time they were just a hello and the weather report.
28.She watches the Weather Channel.
29.She lights up when she sees her grandkids.
30.She is very generous. She loves to give. I used to tell her I had a need at the nursing home and the next day she would fulfill that need.
31.Once she knows you like something she never forgets, and usually gives you gifts related to that interest.
32.She is good at taking care of the sick. If you ever need someone to go to the hospital with you she is the woman.
33.She can talk to just about anyone and usually does. I can't tell you how many times I have watched her talk to a complete stranger in the grocery line.
34.She is artsy craftsy, a talent which I think she will have more time to develop in her retirement.
35.Education is very important to her and she made she I got a good one.
36.She loves nature but hates camping.
37.She always let me have my friends over to play when I was a kid.
38.When you go shopping with my mom, you need to allow plenty of time. I have never been to Meijer with her when we have just gone in for one thing and left with one thing.
39.She acts younger than her age, especially when she is with my Aunt Christina
40.When she is with my niece, they go off into their own little world and have a wonderful time together.
41.She knows just what sorts of things Aidan likes to do. She always has just the right toys or sends him just the right things in the mail. What makes this most interesting is that when I told her I was having a boy she said "I don't know what to do with boys".
42.She is a quick learner.
43.She is opinionated and not afraid to share her opinion at places like city council meetings.
44.She is a good driver. I know this seems silly maybe, but I remember he teaching me how to get out into traffic and her telling me to slam on the gas. She doesn't get in accidents, she can navigate big cities and empty stretches of highway. All good things if you take most of your vacations in car.
45.If she gets a hotel room that is not clean, she not only tells the manager about it, she also brings a sampling of the dirt and trash she finds in the room.
46.She makes invisible capes of comfort.
47.She is an excellent writer. Especially resumes.
48.Her example encourages me to be a better person.
49.She has a beautiful smile.
50.She is my mom and I love her.

Happy Birthday MOM