To my mom

What do I have for you today?

Oh, just a list of a few things I love and appreciate about my mom.

(I like lists. Can you tell?)

1. She spent hours and hours reading aloud to us when we were children and instilled her love of books in all six of her children

2. She worked hard to provide a good education for us

3. She stayed optimistic as we moved to many different towns and made it an adventure, teaching us to "bloom where we are planted".

4. She made sure that all of us were involved in music by driving us to and from piano lessons, vocal lessons, violin lesson, cello lessons, guitar lessons, orchestra, quartets and ensembles, as well as spending lots of time practicing with us and helping us learn.

5. She shared her love for tea with me. Right now I'm enjoying a cup of loose leaf tea (Jasmine Green Tea Pearls - if you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it!)

6. She has sacrificed a lot for me over the years. It is humbling. There is no way I could list all of the ways.

7. She is sad about the prospect of not having me close by someday (that's kind of a selfish one for me, but it's true...I love that she's sad about it because it means that she likes me...and I'm sad not living close by too)

8. She takes time out of her very, very busy schedule to drive two and a half hours one way to spend the day with me.

9. She learned to text so that she could keep up with her children (and she's actually really good at it)

10. She has cooked hundreds and hundreds of homemade meals for us.

11. She has been to all of my doctors appointments and has kept track of my medical files, has made phone calls, and has researched it all.

12. She changed our family's normal diet to accommodate my siblings' food allergies.

13. She has made road trips fun. When we were little, in between Adventures in Odyssey tapes, she would pass around little gifts that she has bought and wrapped for us to keep us all occupied. Even now that I'm old, we still have fun on road trips (even if it's the long, long drive to Minnesota for a Mayo visit)

14. She calls and sends texts on days when I'm sick to let me know that she wishes she was here to take care of me.

Love you, Mommy!