Mothers Day:
This mothers day I am wrought with mixed emotions.

I am little homesick for some reason and wishing I were at home to spend the day with my Mom and with Shannon. I don't get homesick as much as I used to, but it does occasionally hit me hard. It is the down side of the choice I made to move to Canada.

I have a good life here, that I love, with no regrets about the choices I have made. I do however occasionally wish that I could have my cake and eat it too. Perhaps someday I will win huge in the lottery and I will be able to buy Darryl that plane he always wanted and then my family could come and visit whenever we needed a fix. For now I will have to be content with phone calls, emails, and blogs.

The other part of me is looking at my children today and being thankful for what I have and for the gifts they give me everyday. My children have made me a better person. I learn from them everyday as I look at the world through their eyes and discover the world with them. I am blessed with a good a husband and wonderful family.

I hope that I can pass on the gifts that my mother gave to me to my own children. My mother has given so much to my sister and I. I never understood the sacrifices she made for us, the way we made her heart ache at times and how much she loves us until I had children of my own. I think this calls for a Top 10 list, this one is for you mom!

Top 10 Gifts My Mother Gave Me

10. Typing skills-I wanted to take Drivers Education, mom insisted I take typing and also told me I would thank her someday, I hate it when she is right.

9. Mom leads a good life- she taught us by example to live our lives to the fullest, to never compromise ourselves, to always be ourselves.

8. All things crafty- I can knit, sew, needlepoint, cross stitch, and just about build you a house out of a stack of business cards and a hot glue gun, mom rocks in the art department.

7. How to use a drill- I can drill a hole with the best of them, I can sand, paint, spackle, saw, hammer and I know the difference between a Robertson, Phillips and Standard screwdriver. I think this scares my husband a little bit...Thank you Mom.

6. Cooking-mom inadvertently taught me to cook. She was a single working mom, she got home late and so Shannon and I were in charge of dinner. Mom planned the meals and Shannon and I cooked them.

5. Dancing-Mom can shake her booty with the best of them and passed on not only a love of music but the ability to shake her money maker. I remember her shaking it with Shannon and I in the front room, just having a good time with us. (I am also scarred by an image burned into my brain of my mom dressed as Sonny and my dad dressed as Cher on their way to a Halloween party)

4. Dream Big- Mom always encouraged us, no matter how strange or how unattainable an idea we came up with may have been, mom was always there to tell us we could do anything we wanted to, anything we put out minds to.

3. The Ability to Laugh at Myself- It seemed like torture at the time, an awkward teen and mom poking fun at things that bothered me most about myself. She would explain to me how important it was learn to laugh at yourself. She was right

2. Girls Rock-Men and women are created equal. Mom pulled her weight in a man's world, learning and working a man's job and never compromised the woman she is to pull this off.

1. Pay it Forward- Take the gifts that you are given and pass them on, share them with the rest of the world.

Mom, I hope to pay forward all that you have taught me by giving my children the same gifts. Thank you for all that you have given to me, for all that you have taught me, and for all that you continue to teach me. I love you, Happy Mother's Day.

Unfinished business:
This link is for all you, who like me had no idea what frotting is. I am so glad I googled that one Keeefer, thank you for educating me. Next time some stranger brushes up against me I will be sure and rush home for a shower. You are a worldly man to know of these practices and the 'kern(al's)' of information you have to offer up to us.