Happy Mother's Day

I am donating my blog today to my mom. She is doing well and stays busy and very active for a person with a lot of wisdom and real world experience. She told me many years ago tht Mother's Day is a Communist plot. Yet she still enjoys receiving Mother's Day cards. I usually give her one, but this year I'm not. I didn't like any of the cards I saw; then, I saw one in Spanish. Hey, that's great, I thought, I don't read Spanish but it's probably still a good card. Besides, my madre would get the chance to brush up on her Espanole. I bought it in haste and got home and read what it said on the back. I should have paid attention to the cartoon pictures, which showed a couple. Needless to say, the writing wasn't the kind of card I should give to my mom, so I learned a $3.93 mistake: don't buy any more cards in Spanish (the good news is that the price on the back said $4.93 so at least I saved some pesos).
Anyway, I wanted to blog about some experiences I've had with my mom, some which she'll remember, some she won't. They're not all funny or serious, but they popped into my mind this past week. In no particular order, they include:
-the time I wet my pants in second or third grade at the Catholic school I attended and my mom brought some dry clothes to school. I didn't know you could leave Mass if you had to "go" but my mom said it was no big deal, which made me feel better.
-when I set the trash can on fire in our apartment in Germany and the maid had to come to our rescue. I don't remember what punishment I got but I'm sure it was appropriate.
-the time I was home with my mom and we had spaghetti for lunch. I wanted either more sauce or Parmasean cheese (I don't remember which one) but I got the name wrong and my mom kept pouring the other one on my spaghetti and wondered why. I finally got it right and asked for the other one. The lunch had a happy ending.
-the time I jumped off our boat in Texas when we were pulling into the beach. I had my life jacket on and was in no danger of drowning, but I'm sure I got a stern lecture that day about not doing that again
-living in Germany had other memorable events, such as getting into trouble continuously with Mrs. Errb. I remember she sent a note home one Friday and I fretted/procrastinated all weekend about showing it to my mom to get it signed. I finally did so on the nth hour Sunday night and my mom wondered why I waited all weekend to do so. After that, I figured out how to forge my mom's name and did that once or twice on bad notes. The teacher asked me if that waws really my parent's handwriting and I said it was. I hope I got all my bad stuff out in Germany!
It hasn't been easy for my mom being a mother, wife, and head of household all the times my father was deployed, and especially moving so many times. She told us one of the most difficult experiences she had was flying from Texas to Germany with five kids ranging in age from 1 to 10. She worried that if the plane went down, how would she save all of us? In addition to raising five boys, two of my brothers were born with cerebral palsy. I know that alone would be extemely difficult but my mom endeavored very hard to provide the best home environment any son would want.
I sincerely appreciate all the love and support my mom has given me over the years. Even now, she still helps me out. My car had a flat tire one morning and she dropped what she was doing and gave me a ride to work. Only a few years ago, I had an operation on my neck and had to wear a neckbrace for two weeks. My mom provided copious quantities of TLC which I am forever indebted. Thank for all you've done for me and all of the family members. Happy Mother's Day.

Love,
Andrew