it’s not mother’s day yet, i know. but i felt the need to write this. especially after the last 8 months. even more after the last few weeks. and even more after the last 2 days.
we pay my mom to be our full time nanny, but on top of being absolutely amazing at that, she takes care of loki and thor throughout the day. she cleans out the litter box. she does our laundry. she does caylin’s laundry. she still folds it perfectly. she gets our mail. she vacuums. she shampoos our carpet when one of the animals pukes. she cleans the bathrooms. she turns off the crock pot when i forget. she buys more crescent roll dough when she has a craving and eats all of ours (really, mom. you don’t have to buy us more. we should be buying YOU crescent rolls by the truckload for all that you do).
we’re moving in less than a month. so over the past several weeks, my mom has been bringing empty boxes and tupperware to our house when she comes over every morning. while caylin naps, she starts packing and cleaning. she started packing up our entire house, box by box. little by little. carefully. meticulously. wrapping breakables in leftover tissue paper and dish towels. the woman has more patience than i could ever hope to have, and puts forth so much effort to make sure things are done right. of all of the admirable traits i could get from her (and her mom is the same way), i especially wish i had gotten these.
the last 2 days, i stayed home sick from work. there’s a bug going around our team and i finally caught it. my mom let me sleep in yesterday morning, and took care of caylin. when i got up, i took over taking care of caylin, and my mom started cleaning and packing. scrubbing stains out of the carpet. dusting. hanging pictures up to cover up nail holes and ripping dead flowers out of the front yard so it won’t look so bad when they show the house to potential renters. she took care of caylin when i needed to work. she ordered us a pizza for lunch, and hung out with me and caylin all day.
today, she showed up with her carpet cleaner, her vacuum, and magic erasers. she spent most of the day cleaning the carpet on the stairs, vacuuming the stairs, scrubbing the downstairs floor, and scrubbing scuff marks off our walls. for hours, she did this. hours.
this is my mom. even when i was in college, she would come visit and she’d clean my bathroom, and make sure i had everything i needed before she left.
to this day, i regret fighting with her as much as i did in high school and college. two hormonal women living under one roof alone is never a good combination, and i’m sure it happens to every mother and daughter. i’m sure it will happen with me and caylin when the time comes (this kills me thinking about it). but that doesn’t change the fact that i hate how mean i was, when after all that, she is still this good to me, and even better to caylin.
our trips to get frozen yogurt together. splitting domino’s pizzas. watching big bang theory and everybody loves raymond and under the tuscan sun. disney on ice and broadway/off-broadway musicals. our awesome trips to disney (there are more to come!). watching the partridge family and i love lucy and bob newhart. listening to “oldies” radio. these are the things i will always remember and love. i already make sure caylin gets a regular dose of 50’s/60’s music. these are some of the best memories i have.
i couldn’t ask for a better mother, a better woman to look up to, a better person in my life. i’m horrible at being mushy and affectionate in person–brett will tell you the same thing. but it doesn’t mean that i don’t KNOW that i am so lucky to have someone so amazing in my life who takes such good care of me and my family.
i don’t know what i’d do without you, mom. and i don’t know what i’d do if you hadn’t moved to charleston. i love you so much. thank you for being the best mom in the world.
