My home has speckled ceilings

A rosewood dinning table

Granite kitchen counter tops

A gargoyle

Remodeled to the 21^st century, but built back in the day.

We have willow, oak, maple, and pine trees

Grass that we don’t mow in zig zag patterns

A bobcat; a tractor

A tabby named Elvis

We’ve upgraded to automatic watering systems

We’ve moved onward to electric fencing

Our basement doesn’t flood anymore

Our wine cellar has expanded

And we’ve added hardwood floors.

At first our evenings were scattered across Delano

Drama practice, math team, soccer, 4-H

We drove a red Oldsmobile

We christened it “the couch”

It sat in the movie theatre parking lot on weekends

Now we’re scattered across the world

We’re all in different time zones

Slovakia, Minnesota, Mauritania

We’ve abandoned our spikes, scripts, and popcorn scoopers

For lesson plans, solar chargers, and paint brushes

We meet every six months (if we’re lucky)

To walk through the memories

Pet the cat

Drink a glass of homemade iced tea

And walk to the garden

We’ve left behind our childhoods, the stop watches, and the curfews

For responsibility, a life on our own, and rules that we’ve made up for ourselves

Which life is better?

I don’t think I can answer that

But I know now that I wouldn’t be who I am today without you three.

So thank you for the simple act of being there

For pulling me out of bed in the morning

For chauffeuring me around town

For waiting in the waiting room

For working so that I could have every opportunity available

My life is richer and blessed because you’re in it

Thank you for the sisterhood

For without you I wouldn’t have them in my life either.

Thank you for simply being my mother.

I love you.

~ by avalambrecht on May 21, 2009.