*a lot to say*

happy mother's day, oh beautiful mother of mine!

i want to thank you for all the great memories, the sweet, sweet memories from when i was a little girl. picnics at weed park before the first day of school. when i was even younger than that, i remember you setting up my lunch, chocolate milk and all, on my little toy chest in my room. i can still see the little balls of chocolate from the nesquick powder at the bottom of the cup. i loved that part best and still smile when i see them today in kids' cups. and remember those buns you used to put in my hair when i was really little? how sweet was that? i remember getting all dolled up for my very first movie with that white slip and white tights. i love looking back at that picture of when i was little, all ready to go to my first birthday party in my yellow shirt with piggy tails and that darling package with a huge purple sucker on top tied with a bow. even back then you were making things pretty and special for people. oh my, and all those handmade-by-you halloween costumes that you spent hours on - the simple and classic white ghost, the not-so-simple clown, the 50's costumes, the valley girl get-ups, hippie costumes, the list goes on. you even made them for my friends so they'd feel special too! remember how cute angel oepping was in mike's pink poodle costume? all those notes from "the bunny" at easter telling us that our baskets were hidden. santa breaking the fireplace grate. what great memories i have of more birthday surprise parties than i can count. and the slumber parties! and the parties you let us have at our house when we were older, so that we'd stay out of trouble. you didn't care one iota what others thought about you being protective of us. you taught me great manners and people skills and often reminded me that god was always with me...and always watching me :) . you taught me that nothing good happens after midnight. you were a great example to us when it came to caring for others. remember that day you sent me to school with a bag filled with cute clothes for a girl who didn't have much? you taught me to treat everyone equally, no matter how they looked or acted. you really had a way of making me feel for others; and to realize that they had feelings and emotions that were just as real as mine. remember the sock hop? hilarious. complete with records, cherry and chocolate cokes, and always the poodle skirts. we won so many little contests with your help - puttin' on the hits with steve schulte and dancing and lip syncing to monster mash. our picture in the muscatine journal after you drove us to west middle school in a hearse?!?! and dressing me up as morticia! remember grade school and the little house and pippi outfits for book character days? i loved being sick because you took such good care of me. we'd pick up our medicine at stiles (was that the name of the place?) and you'd let us pick out a coloring book or something fun. then you'd get us cozy in your bed and turn on mr. rogers (even when i was older, and i still have great memories of pbs because of those days) and bring me chicken noodle soup and 7 up. then you'd have dad surprise us with popsicles when he'd come home for lunch. you lit candles which made the house always smell so good and taught me all about mood lighting and making things cozy. our friends loved coming to our house because it was so inviting. you taught me to ask about others. how great it was that you always dressed up as that scary witch lady and sat on our porch at halloween, all decorated with cobwebs. i loved that you'd buy scooter crunch bars and those little pizzas from the schwann man. and those darling (at least now i can appreciate them) matching terry cloth outfits that you stayed up all night sewing, so that kim and i could have cute and comfy matching outfits on that long trip out east. and the crazy eights and old maid cards you bought for us to play on the way out. sitting in those backwards seats in the good old station wagon was a blast. i loved growing up out at hilltop and the late nights with all of your fun friends laughing it up and playing pool and trivial pursuit. how we loved the tennis court garage sales and the community of all the neighbors hanging out. you and peggy making collages for each other and drinking your pepsi out of bottles. you guys always made us run up to the house from the pool to get you a pepsi - with lots of ice and in a plastic cup. can you believe i have good memories of running home to get you and peggy pepsis?! i loved the walks in the neighborhood woods and mushroom hunting. i can still smell you frying them up. speaking of frying, remember the corn fritters dipped in syrup? when i see a fry daddy today, i feel all nostalgic. i loved your bathroom out at hilltop where you cleaned my scraped knees after i fell from running too fast after delivering may day baskets and where i watched you put on your makeup, especially your maybelline mascara in the pink tube, which i now use today. i loved your smokey eyes and curly brown hair and that you smelled so good with your tabu. i loved when you let us take our lunch to school, which wasn't often, and included a little bag of chips and a hostess cupcake. when kim and i would fight, you made us sit facing each other on your bed and sing to each other until we'd laugh. you used to bring us dinner to eat in the car before dance and swimming. i hated those lessons, but loved that special little dinner in the car! thanks for letting us keep every stray animal that happened upon our house because it knew you'd keep it. and i still crack up at their names - abby, tiffany, megan, maddie, ashley, buffy - all names you wanted to name us but dad didn't like. for the record, i WOULD have liked any of those, even buffy! we loved being regulars at peking and john's pizza. we'd get egg rolls and sizzling rice soup and felt so grown up about it. and remember that clock i couldn't read at john's pizza when we discovered i needed glasses? i loved that you chewed doublemint gum and used that purple windex. and i loved looking at all your records. i loved that you always wanted the windows open for fresh air, even on chilly days, and in the car too. my hair would blow in the wind and i'd try to sing along to your great 70's music that i still love today - abba, diana ross, jacksons, smokey robinson, etc., and even julio! you loved autumn and the beautiful leaves. kim and i were (and still are) such lucky little girls to have you as our mom. if you look at my life today, you'll see that i do so much of what you probably didn't even realize you were teaching me. you taught me to enjoy the simple things in life. that is something i have the ability to do today, that i wouldn't trade for the world. i am for grateful for that. i hope that i am giving the same gift to my children. thanks, mom. i love you!