Thursday Thirteen - Happy Birthday Mom!

Yes, May is a very busy time in our family. Mother’s Day, parents’ anniversary, and today, it’s Mom birthday.

In honour of her birthday, here are 13 reasons why I admire my mother:

1/ She’s different. She's not your typical mom or grandmother. She's tough, not what you call traditionally maternal.

2/ She’s got a heart of gold and she’s a wonderful friend. Just don’t get on her bad side.

3/ She’s a rebel. My grandmother wanted her to be a nun. She didn't. So she saved up money and got herself to London, England on her own coin, to study to be a nurse. She was 18. Then she made her way across the ocean to the US and Canada to further her studies.

4/ She’s smart. She was always studious, but she has common sense and most importantly is life smart. Always thinking about how to optimize a situation (often to the point of complicating things because it takes others a while to follow), but you can't fault her for trying!

5/ She’s not afraid to tell it like it is. In fact, I don’t think she’s afraid of anything or anyone. Fierce, yeah, I'd use that word to describe her. When we were kids she revelled in the fact that the other kids thought she was so tough. (Honestly, though, her bark is much worse than her bite).

6/ She’s very accomplished. A nurse with a specialty in obstetrics; a trained midwife who delivered few hundred babies on her own back in England; a public health nurse (she tested me for scoliosis and lice annually with great vigilance); and then a real estate agent because she thought she'd do a better job selling and buying her own homes than anyone else. She was right, and made it a nice second career choice after retirement.

7/ She's fun and social. We have to book her and Dad months in advance to watch the kids. Chances are they'll be out partying until 3 AM most weekends, while we're in bed asleep by 11,after tucking the kids in. And cruises are their passion. At least one, often two a year with a gang of friends. They just did South America and the South Pole.

And she puts up with my Dad's jokes (he's a real card, Jack Benny style) which she is often the butt of.

8/ She raised us to be decent people. Fairly decent, anyway.

9/ She gave us everything she could while we were growing up. With no family infrastructure to rely on, she took me and my sister all over town for lessons galore, for the most part all on public transit. And when baby brother came along, he wanted for even less.

10/ She’s an energetic go-getter. Always on the go, always on her cell phone; makes me tired just watching her sometimes. I said to hubs that I hope I have that much energy at her age; he said that's impossible because I don't even have that NOW.

11/ She’s loves to dress up. See all those cruises? She's got quite the collection of gowns for the on-ship parties. And she's horrible at purging her wardrobe. Gee, I wonder what I picked up from her?

12/ She’s a great mother. For someone who had a fairly arms' length relationship with her own mother, I learned so much from her while growing up; I continue to learn to this day. And she's so very proud of each her children.

13/ She’s a wonderful grandmother. The love she has for her grandkids and grandbabies is limitless. She's proudest of them most of all.

Happy Birthday Mom!!!