Happy Birthday Mom

To continue the blogging tradition of birthdays in our family I title this 66 thoughts about my mom

66. She gave birth to me. (And Jerry eleven minutes apart - while not the first memory I sure am glad she didn't send one of us back.)

65. She's a mom. Not mother...maybe a mommy but only when I was little.

64. She doesn't like the smell of garlic.

63. She survived our teenage years.

62. Sometimes she's too busy taking care of everyone else that she forgets to take care of herself.

61. She is brilliant at paying bills and accounting - and she has it all completely organized in her book or calendar.

60. And She balances her checkbook to the penny every month.

59. She likes to wash dishes. (Something she didn't pass along to me that's for sure!)

58. She wears my hand painted t-shirts. Some of which should have been tossed to the scrap heap the moment they were created.

57. She planned summer vacations including amazing road trips to arizona, colorado and florida.

56. She made sure each of us kids went to swimming lessons every summer.

55. She likes reality television and all of us know better than to call during the last five minutes of one of those shows.

54. She is a pretty decent rummy player.

53. She was the person who got me hooked on reading harlequin romances.

52. She bakes Christmas cookies.

51. She has finally mastered not burning the bake n' serve rolls.

50. She was the first person with whom I rode a roller coaster. (Not including the kiddie one at Santa's Village)

49. She indulged an innocent grade school romance by accompanying Art Dixon and myself to Yankee doodle dandy for our first "double date".

48. She always tries to make sure all her kids feel like they are treated equal.

47. She doesn't want to see us hurt but will hug and kiss it better when she can.

46. She knows how to knit and crochet.

45. She doesn't like to cook but made sure our family ate dinner together almost every night.

44. She cared for Oma (her mom) through the terrible plight of what probably was Alzheimer's Disease (even though the doctor's did not diagnose it way back then

43. In the summer she used to wash all of the bedsheets and hang them outside to dry.

42. She sewed up my raggedy ann doll too many times to count.

41. She likes daisies.

40. She cleaned our hamster cages when we didn't.

39. She cares for Dad through his current struggles with cancer all the while struggling herself with diabetes and various other ailments.

38. She always made the best scrambled egg sandwiches when we were just well enough to eat again after being sick.

37. She came to every one of my swim meets and probably cheered the loudest.

36. She always let me borrow her car in high school before they eventually bought another one for us kids to use.

35. She likes to go on drives when something is bothering her or she "just needs to get out of the house"

34. She gave up her job and stayed home with us kids until we were in high school.

33. She took pride in her job as a greeter at Kmart. To this day we still see people about town, at restaurants that remember her greeting and customer service at Kmart.

32. She likes to bowl and participates in a league.

31. She helps out with Meals On Wheels.

30. She knows and loves God.

29. She also enjoys a contemporary worship service almost as much as I do.

28. And she likes to listen and watch that Joel Osteen on the tv.

27. She's a whiz at snapping green beans, peeling potatos or carrots...mostly because Oma would cringe at any of us wasting good food.

26. She and her sister and rest of the family grew up in Germany. As a young girl she came to America and had to start school and learn english. A language she has grasped completely.

25. It may have been his car that attracted her initially, but something made her marry dad and for that I'll be grateful (or else we wouldn't be here either!)

24. She misses those who have died deeply including my brother Ricky whom we never knew. Every year she remembers them and it's the sort of kind caring and honoring that she just does and I hope to do when the time comes - like mentioning them once in a while or going to the cemetery to clean graves. She just remembers to do it.

23. She likes parades

22. She likes everything on her chicago style hot dog.

21. She will come to my rescue when I need it and I appreciate that she's a phone call away.

20. For most of the time I remember she has driven a buick.

19. Except for the year dad bought her the Pinto. It's amazing the amount of self-control she had when she really wanted a Pacer instead.

18. She loved our Sheltie Brandie and trained her and cared for her. She made sure that when Brandie died she found a resting place beneath the lilac tree at the Dells.

17. She loves birds and bird feeders.

16. She dresses geese.

15. She likes to go to flea markets and craft fairs (lately to find geese outfits)

14. She has a collection of gnomes in her garden.

13. She grows the BEST tomatoes.

12. She is lucky for the most part when they go to the casino.

11. She likes romance movies on the Hallmark Channel.

10. She also likes Perry Mason Mysteries and always ends up watching those bizzare mysteries on Lifetime or A&E

9. She would always buy lemonade from our lemonade stand and pay us a quarter instead of a nickel even though it was her kool aid and water, cups etc.

8. Springtime senior year of high school she called up several times and got me out of study hall to go with her to the Cubs game with tickets she won from the German radio station. We even got to sit in the first row behind home plate. (Our favorite place to sit was a little farther up the third base line)

7. She isn't afraid to voice her opinion about the terrible waste of money the mayor of Arlington Heights is endorsing upgrading city hall and the fire station, along with unnecessary fountains and statues.

6. She is a kind neighbor - will take in the mail or drive people to appointments if needed.

5. She enjoys going to the Arlington Heights memorial library bag-o-book sale and tends to come home with more harlequins for me to read when I visit.

4. She's terribly afraid of heights but will brave the parking garage at O'Hare to personally pick me up at baggage claim every time I come to visit.

3. She is an excellent taxi driver through the streets and mazes - whereever we are if she has a map and a tank of gas she can usually get us where we need to go.

2. She makes a really good recipe for german potato salad - probably the right balance between bacon and sweet/sour.

1. She loves me - no matter what, that has always and will always mean the most to me. And I love her right back.