Mom Salute!

Happy Mother’s Day Mom!
I certainly hope this note finds you enjoying a relaxing day doing whatever it is you want to do. I love you very much, and I wanted to take this chance to thank you for all that you’ve done for me over the years, and all you continue to do for me and my family. I know that, whether it’s planning a nice trip for Ali and I (and now Ms. Emmy) when we come home to visit, or flying out to watch my change of command and Emmy on short notice, there’s nothing you wouldn’t do for me. But it’s always been that way, since I was a little kid. In all of my memories from my childhood you were always going out of your way to take care of Ben, Grant, and I. You always made sure we had everything we needed and were loved unconditionally.

I know I’ve been away from home for some time now. And I know that with work and deployments I don’t always do as good of a job as I should calling home and writing you. I promise to do a better job of it for the rest of this deployment. And if I have trouble getting a hold of you on the phone, then I’ll be sure to write and give updates, even if they’re brief.

I look forward to the day when we can spend more time near you, Dad, Ben, and Grant. Who knows, if things keep going the way they have been, I might be out working as a garbage man in California sooner than I thought. And I know that, when that day comes, if it’s sooner or later, we’ll always have you nearby to watch Emmy, take care of us if we need it, and spend time with us.

I love you, mom. Thank you for being so good to me, my brothers, dad, and my family all these years.

Have a wonderful, well deserved, relaxing, Mother’s day.

Love,
Nick

My Mom,


I was just thinking about you and thought that I would let you know.  Emmy and I just re-read the book that you gave us, "Someday," and, yeah, I cried ugly tears. Again.  I think I scared her.  There is something about that story, despite the fact that it's a children's book, that so eloquently puts into words  the beauty and complexity of the relationship between a mother and her daughter.  We have this finite period of time to teach and then to influence our children to become the strongest, happiest, most inquisitive, compassionate, and well adjusted individuals in this life that we have given them.  And how beautiful it is to watch them find their way.  The story reminds us of the circle of life, and how our role and responsibilities change as we progress through it.  Now, as I have become a mommy, I look to you as my role model, as I always have, but in a new way.  I hope to get your recipe for motherhood that yields the same special bond with my Emmy that you and I share.  Our relationship may have evolved over the years, but no matter what the variables might have been, your unconditional love and support has remained constant and unwavering....


I recall the countless late nights you were up tediously piping whipped cream into homemade cream puffs.  Those dessert platters were for the parties you catered as a means of earning extra money to pay the tuition for my private school elementary education.  You did all that you could to ensure that Kris and I went to the best school in town.


I fondly remember the delicious smell of bacon and scrambled egg breakfasts cooking over the campfire.  I loved everything (but the outhouses) about our many family vacations spent camping--I wouldn't trade those memories for any stay at a 5 star resort.


I close my eyes and see the big bunch of mylar balloons waiting for me in the school office that you had secretly snuck in for my 12th birthday.  You made it special when no one else remembered.


I giggle at the thought of how you kindly helped me to remedy my first Home Economics dinner flop..."Fosty Chicken." When everyone else in the family dubbed it "Frosty Chicken" because of how undercooked the meat was, you complimented me on my effort and helped me to make it edible.


You held me tight and let me cry to you about the demise of my middle school "relationship," instead of reminding me that it lasted two months and we only really hung out at lunch time.  You took my pain very seriously...


I smile at the thought of us dancing together at my Senior Ball...I couldn't think of any other parent that I wanted to chaperone more than you.  I was beyond excited to share with you the event that I had spent all year coordinating.


I still can't believe that you and I drove 12 hours from Danville to Tucson without so much as turning on the radio.  We clearly had a lot to talk about that day, but then, we always do.


I picture the smile on your face when you welcomed me home from work at the hospital, well past midnight, on so many nights that you couldn't sleep.  You stayed up and eagerly helped me to research wedding vendors until the wee hours of the morning, despite your looming wake up call for work.


I love the sound of your voice on my wedding video, when you whooped for joy immediately after the minister pronounced Nick and I to be husband and wife.  You knew, so well, how much I wanted to hear those words.


I missed the sound of your voice and felt a desperation unlike any other, when I sat at your bedside in ICU as you recovered from surgery gone very wrong.  Despite your respiratory support and high level of sedation, you still squeezed my hand when I cried.


How I love the memory of you and Kris carrying the old beat up couches downstairs from the man room to the curb for garbage pick-up...You were so committed to helping me de-bachelor my married home.


I think of how you were the last one in the whole family to hold my brand new baby girl because you were so busy cleaning my house, preparing food, and anticipating and fulfilling my every need as an overwhelmed new mommy.  But when you did wrap your arms around her, I melted inside.


To borrow the words of Big Nutbrown Hare in "Guess How Much I Love You"...I love you right up to the moon and back, Mom.  Thank you for the life that you have given me, the example that you have set for me, and for the love with which you have filled me...I can only hope that I am to Emmy as you are to me.


Your Ali