My mom Michel!

So tell me do you remember what you were doing when you were in your early 20’s?  Let’s see, I was in University studying Ornamental Horticulture.  I had a bit of a side business as a landscape consultant.  I had a boyfriend, cats, a job at a nursery and like most 20 year olds I was self absorbed.

Let me tell you what my mom did when she was 21.  She adopted a 5 year old with a less than stable background.  She was going to be a stewardess I think (I remember her telling me once upon a time) but she got married and then she and her husband at the time adopted me.

I was pretty much with them quite a bit when I was a little kid.  My bio mom had some issues with drug use and was in and out of the prison system quite a bit.  My grandmother took care of me quite a bit but she was blind and also very sick.  So my bio mom’s brother and his wife took me in and made me theirs.  Yes it’s all quite convoluted.

After a bit, the marriage failed and I ended up staying with my adopted dad, my uncle you can say.  But sadly he also had issues with alcohol and illegal substances, so my mom swooped down one day, told me to grab a bag of clothes and took me.
At this point my mom had to be 25 at the time and now is raising an 8 year old by herself.  To improve our lives, she went to school and worked.  This is a time in her life to be out, socializing and having a good time.  When I was 25 I was completely flighty and unreliable getting tattoos and slinging espresso in a coffeehouse.
My mom was studying nursing and working in a hospital.  No child support, no help.

Eventually she met a pretty awesome patient man who would become her husband and my step dad.  Our lives were more stable, we moved to Alaska, they added to the family with my baby sister.
My parents are pretty independent and when my dad decided to go to Afghanistan to help with rebuilding the country, my mom decided she didn’t want to sit around and wait for him to come home.  She took a job with the U.S. Army as a civilian and moved to Washington D.C.  She built a hospital.  Well not all by herself, but you know what I am getting at.  The armed forces decided to close Walter Reed Hospital and open a new state of the art joint forces hospital.  So my mom lived in Washington D.C. and my dad lived in Alaska.  Even though they were far away from each other, they love each other very much.

Michel and Skip - My awesome parents

When Fort Belvoir Community Hospital was finished she decided to move to Texas to help with another military hospital.  My dad will be retiring in the fall and moving to Texas.
My mom is head strong, brilliant, incredibly talented.  She makes quilts, reads voraciously, and has the sharpest wit out of anyone I know.  People think I’m pretty funny, but my mom is twice as funny.  She’s generous and tough.  And to me the coolest thing of all is, my mom builds hospitals.

So to recap, at 21 my mom adopted a child, raised her for a long time by herself and in my opinion did a pretty good job.  I am smart, funny, occasionally brilliant and always awesome.  I read voraciously, can’t sew a stitch but am a phenomenal cook.
We don’t talk as much as we should.  I tend not to want to call if I have nothing to say or going on in my life.

But as this Mother’s Day nears, think of your mom and all the cool things she’s done for you.  whether it be taught you to embroider, love books or wrestle a bear.  (that would be super cool)

Sometimes I don’t like my mom, but I will always love her and I am more than proud of her and proud to be her daughter.

Happy Mother’s Day Mom!
Happy Mother’s Day everyone!