A Serious Post

My second ever Mother's Day was great - a new Coach purse (that's right, Brandy, a new one), a lovely lunch at with other moms and pre-moms and their families, a much-needed haircut and some 'me' time. But really, I just wanted to take time to tell you about my mom.

Alice was born during a nomadic period in her family. My grandparents traveled throughout the country, my grandfather as a pipe-liner and my grandmother raising her 3 girls in a motor home. They moved constantly; the longest they stayed in one place was 18 months. When my mom was 13 or so, they finally settled in Dustin, Oklahoma, population 600. By some miracle, my dad's grandmother lived in the same tiny town and on a visit from California, they met. By the fourth date, they were engaged.

Soon after my parents married, they moved to California. She left her family, her friends and her familiarity to be with my dad, so he could make the best living he knew how. Over the first 9 years of their marriage, my dad worked as a pastor, a bail bondsman, a dairyman, an ice cream truck driver, among other things. My mom had to put her plans aside and just be a supportive wife.

Finally, in 1979, without meaning to, my parents became parents. My mom's pregnancy went smoothly, but (it's no secret) my dad wasn't ready. Essentially, Alice was prepared to raise her child without any help from him. But then a second miracle happened - on September 13, they found out that they were having two babies. Somehow, that was the trigger for my dad. He was ready for this - excited even. Cassi and I were born five days later; Blll and Alice were new parents of identical twin girls.

They settled down in a house in Tulare, California, where they lived for 22 years. My sister and I never knew transition like they did. We had the stability as children that my mom didn't have. They somehow kept us in private Christian school through 8th grade, took family vacations every 6 months and sent us to ballet, jazz, tap and piano lessons as long as we wanted them. They couldn't have been wealthy, but we always felt rich. I am grateful, now more than ever, for the childhood I was given.

There is a rare kind of bond between mothers and daughters. There is sympathy, there is stubbornness, there is gentleness, there is rebellion. But what I didn't know was there until I had my own daughter is the inexplicable, unimaginable, unconditional love. And now that I have the capacity to return the love my mother has always felt for me, it means so much more to say this: Mom, I love you.



Oh and here is a little video Cassi and I made for our kids' Gigi: