Moms

With Mother's Day fast approaching, my mind is on mamas.  Of course I have a new respect for moms out there, since becoming one myself almost 4 years ago, but I've always has a huge respect for women who hold this title and take it seriously.  A few weeks ago, Peyton was sick and she had me a little more worried than normal due to some symptoms she'd never experienced.  Strangely, the first thing I did was call my mom.  Not the doctor, my mom (ok, she's a doctor too, but not of the medical kind!).  After I hung up the phone, I had the awful thought, "What will I do when I can't pick up the phone and call her when Peyton is sick?"  Peyton has diarrhea: call mom.  Peyton is running a super high fever: call mom.  Peyton is having nightmares: call mom.  It's what I do.  It's who I am.  A mama's girl.  Always have been.  Often her answer is to simply "Call the doctor."  Duh.  Of course I should do that if I'm worried about my child.  But still, he's not the first I call.  I call mom. 

Being the youngest, and only girl, in my family I grew up with a special bond with my mother and it's never gone away.  Can she annoy me like no other?  Yep.  When my brothers and I are all together you can bet that somehow we will end up discussing "mom's quirks."  But do we love her?  Yep.  Do we respect her?  Yep.  I keep thinking of sayings and inside jokes and things that won't be the same when mom is not around.  Sometimes she's the only one who gets them! 

My prayer for Peyton is that she and I will always have that bond as well.  She is a big time daddy's girl right now.  But she and I have a girl bond that Daddy just doesn't quite understand.  He's not allowed into that corner of our world. 

I am at the age where many of my friends no longer have their mothers.  I just can't simply imagine.  I love that Peyton has my mom.  They have such a strong bond, as my mom was her babysitter the first year of her life.  I still remember the day I went to pick her up and she was more content to be with her Mimi than her mom.  Surprisingly, I wasn't bothered by that. 

I will end this with some specific things in which I am thankful for my mom for giving me, in no specific order:

*a love of Christ and the bible, although it took me a while to get there
*a sense of humor, albeit an odd one at times :)
*a desire to be as educated as possible
*compassion
*a love of Paris (nope, mine is not as strong as hers, and probably never will be, but seeing that Eiffel Tower sure can make me yearn!)
*a love of travelling and a desire for learning new things

I guess the list could be much longer, but these are the things that stick out most right now.