just call this a two-for day. i felt i needed to start the habit of blogging in terms of gratitude / delight. today i’m quite grateful for my mom.

let me start with saying that, for some strange reason, God has decided to place me in the path of people who have recently lost someone they love at a reasonably early time (meaning, they died a young death). this has happened since i was a teenager when i became friends with a girl from another school. later her dad told me how much our friendship had helped her deal. all i knew was that she was super cool and i was thrilled she’d want to hang out with me.

since SW, i have become good friends with Kristy who lost her mom within months of Kristy & I being introduced. (ironically, both friends’ mothers’ names were deb. i’ve never realized that before.) but anyway, my friendship with kristy has opened my eyes to the blessing i usually take for granted.

today my mom drove 45 min to watch henry for the day. when i arrived home at lunch she had cooked my tomatoes into tomato juice, finished the laundry, fed henry and put him down for a nap. and there weren’t even dishes to show as evidence. normally she offers to cook dinner during his second nap, but today i was done early.

it’s not even the stuff she does for me that makes me indebted. it’s her presence. her desire (and i can tell it’s a deep desire) to play a part, to be there. she wants henry to grow up knowing grandma. she wants me to know i can count on her when i need something. it’s not the stuff she buys for me but the fact that when she’s shopping, she’s thinking of me and my family.

we’re all born with a mom, but not everyone gets to experience a woman who walks alongside for the long haul. for some people, when the tears won’t stop, they’re left with a well meaning husband/boyfriend/best friend who loves you and wants to help but just doesn’t “get it.” and when they don’t know what to do with 8 billion tomatoes or aren’t sure how to hard boil an egg, they have to fess up to a (albeit nice) mother-in-law, rather than shamelessly calling home for directions.

so it delights my heart not just to have an increadible mama, but that she wants and is able to be a part of my life, today.