She Gave Me Life and Gin & Tonics

     Today is my mother's birthday. Happy Birthday Mom.  I miss you so much and it's coming on 14 years you will be gone but I will always love you.  Okay for those of you who did not know my mom she was one hell of a woman.  A bit shy (just like me  HAHA) but she was very independant and had no trouble telling you how she felt.  When I was young she was always there for me and that did not change right up until her last days. She taught me how to clean and cook and iron and sew a mean hem!! :-) I can remember when I was a young teen abut 14 or 15, in the summer a few people would come over and we would sit in our lawn chairs and talk into the wee hours of the morning. No one wanted to go to sleep and mom made pitchers of gin & tonics which she allowed me to have since she was with me but never more than 2! So of course i alwasy used a really large glass ;-)  I loved hearing her tell me stories of how she and my dad met.  She didn't like him at first - thought he was pushy but then she agreed to roller skate with him and they went in circles the rest of their time together. LOL I remember at 20 she had her first major heart attack and need triple bypass surgery. Now Mom wasn't terribly overweight but bad hearts ran in her family plus she loved salt!! Something I have learned to cook with out or very little! I remember her looking so small in the hospital bed. (She was about the same height as I am now) She recovered but as the years went on she had another heart attack and then breast cancer then lung cancer and finally it got into her bones and she just couldn't fight it anymore. Through all of this and I'm talking 18 years or so time frame she never once stopped fighting, being strong and I marveled at her resolve. After her chemo for the breast cancer was done I took her to Massachusetts for a mom/daughter weekend. We had a blast and she introduced me to ameretto sours. We sat in the hotel bar and got drunk, it was fab!! She asked me if I was having sex, I looked at her and said yes. I mean I was 26 at the time. I told her I was 17 the first time and she was like who??! I told her Chris, the boy I dated my last 2 years of high school, then she smiled and asked if i liked it.  EWWWW....wasn't sure if I wanted to go into this with mom but I figured in for a penny in for a pound and I said yup I did. She smiled and said good for me, that she was alwasy so timid and in her day you didnt have sex until after you got married.  I told her I was not a sleep around and was picky and she smiled again. We had some more drinks and talked about life in general and it dawned on me, here is a woman whom I actually really liked. I mean I loved her very much, she was my mother, but sitting here just sharing thoughts as two adults brought it home that she was a real person not just a mom. I was very lucky to meet her.  When she died there became a hole in my heart that will always be there.  I miss her everyday. 
     That's it for today on here peeps. I have to get ready to train some new hires, yes I am teacher this week. Who would have ever thought it!! :-)  Ciao