Happy Birthday Mom!

See that blue-eyed beauty in the floral print? She's my mother and today is her birthday. She came from a family of ten children. One part of her is Puerto Rican and another part of her is pioneer - the rest is a blend of unending patience. An ancestor of hers traveled across the United States (before the United States really was the United States) and was kidnapped by Native Americans. She lived to tell the tale, and from the stories my mother told me - it was quite a tale. When I was younger, I used to imagine all that bravery and courage flying through our family line - pouring through my mother's words and landing in my lap. Perhaps those genes helped create her indomitable spirit, or perhaps she cultivated that all by herself. Wherever it came from, I have always loved her strength.

I've always loved her honesty as well. And her courage. (It takes courage to have seven children.) And her love for all things living. She can whisper almost every animal I have seen her meet. (Including giraffes.) Good golly, I love this mother of mine. (I love my dad too.) I'm a lucky girl.