Happy Mother's Day

My mom was right... each stage with my kids just keeps getting better. I remember crying (sobbing -- the sloppy kind) while nursing Matthew when he was just a few weeks old and saying, "One day he's not going to need me anymore! He'll grow up, go away to college and never need me again." I know, RIGHT?! Then a few short years later, when the word autism became part of our every day vocabulary, I worried that he wouldn't even KNOW he needed me... that he wouldn't go to college... all the worries you "borrow" as a scared mom. It really is true that so many of the things we worry about never even come to be. Fast forward 10 years, and here's what I heard today - over and over again: "Mom, you're beautiful -- inside and out." "Mom, you are the very best mom in the whole world." "I love you, Mom." "I'm so glad you're my mom." "Happy Mother's Day - you're the best mom God could've given me." Considering that Matthew didn't say his first "I love you, Mommy" until he was four, and even after that it would come and go for a few years, and these words - from BOTH of my kids - are music to soul. Hugs, kisses, squeezes, smiles... Matthew and Maddie showered me with love, and of course Jeff, Gram, and Mama & Papa did, too. :-) I had the best birthday/Mother's Day weekend ever. It really just does keep getting better. We shot baskets in Matthew's new basketball goal, grilled out and had a delicious BBQ rib dinner (poor Gram stayed home from church to tend to the cooking of the ribs and ended up with a MESS from the ribs leaking all into the oven... POOR, POOR GRAM). The kids both bought me presents with their own money, and they were so thoughtful! An awesome tennis shirt and insulated water bottles from Matthew, and a thermos water bottle, CUTE clipboard for my NEW classroom from Maddie -- and new tennis grips from BOTH of them. That was so funny... everyone knew I needed a new tennis grip because I had to play our first playoff match gripless, thanks to Matthew. :-) He's taking lessons, too, and since the end of the grip was peeling back, he decided the whole thing must go... and then didn't tell me until I noticed the next day - 5 minutes before my match. All's well that ends well, though - we still won!