Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful moms out there! May you be blessed beyond measure. Being a mom is so rewarding, so wonderful, so challenging and so humbling all at the same time. I love being a mom, even though I feel I can never live up to being the mom I really should be. But it's a work in progress, so I encourage myself and I encourage you to keep on keeping on and doing the right thing by your kiddos. I know it's meant to grow me as well as them, so we are all on a great journey together!
Today some of you may be missing your mom because she is far away or maybe because she has passed away. It's hard not to see her on this day, even more than on other days. At least that is the way it is for me this year. Losing my mom in January was deeply painful, and will always be, on some or even many levels, I'm sure. But I rejoice that she is with the Lord and is in perfect peace. I just miss celebrating her in person today as I am sure many of you do. She doesn't have to be here for me to celebrate her, I know, but that lack of physical proximity is hard.
So I decided to gather a few photos to show her celebrating with me and other family members. It was fun to go back and look through these photos. She was always so full of light and love. She always put others before herself and really cared deeply about people. It's no wonder she found her profession in being a nurse. She loved the Lord and I know He holds her now.
Another reason I was happy to find these photos is because, like many of us, she was not too happy being photographed. These pictures caught her at her best, though, when she was just too happy for others and didn't care that she was being photographed. The picture above is at a dear friend's wedding. She loved her tremendously and was so happy on that day.
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| And this is her visiting me in Santa Barbara, where I went to college. She was so proud of me and so incredibly supportive. |
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| On my wedding day. This was taken just after I dedicated my bouquet to her. Rather than throwing it to the single ladies, I shared with everyone how she was so important to and cherished by me. |
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| Here she was celebrating the beauty of nature with our family on a trip to Lake Tahoe. |
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| This was her 65th birthday, the last of her birthdays that we got to celebrate her with her here. She was surrounded by everyone she loved, and it showed on her face. |
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| She got the opportunity to love and cherish sweet Anthony for over a year. He was the light of her life that last year. |
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Here she was celebrating Tom's graduation from law school. She was so proud.
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And this was my graduation from law school. She was so proud of me and it made my day so very sweet.
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| This is one of my all-time favorite photos of her. She is just beaming as she sings happy birthday to my brother Rick while he waits for his favorite cake. She made it for him, of course.
May your Mother's Day be blessed, sweet readers.
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