Happy Mothers Day

My Mom is a tiny woman. My sisters and I were all taller than her by the time we started high school. Chone is getting pretty close and she is only 7. Despite her petiteness, my Mom has an inhumanely loud voice. It is booming and piercing all the same time. There were times when that loud voice was like fingernails on a chalk board to me. Like when it was 6 am and between her high heels on the kitchen floor and her loud voice I could never sleep. But it can also be comforting like when right after Sophia was delivered my Mom told me she was perfect. It can also be just plain fun, like when she is making fun and joking with her sisters. I am glad that my Mom has such a loud voice, because it has made it easier for me to remember everything about her and what it means and takes, not just to be a Mom, but a damn good Mom. There are many many moments that I have with The Phi that I stop and think, "this is just like my Mom use to do". I find myself using the same silly voices when I read to The Phi, just like my Mom did. And apparently I also read in a very loud voice. The Phi will often pick up a book and pretend to read it out loud at a very high volume. I can only assume she learned it from watching me.

My Mom is an exercise junkie, chocoholic, coffee drinking, candy hiding, funny card making, flower loving, Il Divo listening, hard working, neat freak, and we would not have her another way. She really is the best Mom in the world. She has made our lives easier and made motherhood look like a piece of cake. She made it look so easy, but I know that there must have been days when us kids were little and she was exhausted, frustrated, and didn't know exactly what to do. There must have been days when she lost her patience with us and my Dad, tired of being the maid and disciplinarian. But what we remember is the happy, smiling, ever patient Mom who loves us unconditionally. The one who helped me write a song about my cat, the one who let Ouie dress us as Cyndi Lauper for Halloween, the one who let cover my walls in New Kids on the Block pictures, the Mom who kissed us and hugged us, tucked into bed and read us bedtime stories, the one who encouraged us, praised us and has never ever let us down.

Mom, I love you so much. You are my inspiration and I hope to be as good of a Mom to my Phi as you are to me, Ouie and Elaine.

Happy Mothers Day

-Your #1 daughter

Elissa