Mom with Derek and I in our backyard in June, 2011.

Today is my mothers’s birthday. I’m sure if you asked how old she is, she’d tell you she’s “old enough to know better.” I cannot tell you all how wonderful my mother is. She’s my support, my good friend, one of my biggest cheerleaders and she gives great advice when I ask for it (and sometimes when I don’t.)

When I was growing up, waking up on Saturdays in our house meant heading downstairs to see Mom in the kitchen, her hair pinned up with a large barrette, singing along to the sounds of oldies playing on the radio while she baked bread or did dishes. She worked full time and still managed to bake most of our bread and can and preserve a vast amount of fruit and vegetables from the garden. She also managed to sew most of the clothing my sisters and I wore until we grew old enough to prefer jeans and tshirts to handsewn clothing.

Mom has been responsible for my education in many things. She taught me how to cook, bake, can and preserve, knit, crochet and sew–all tools that have served me quite well since then. She taught me how to appreciate sarcasm and how to laugh at myself. She inspires me in so many ways, the least of which is her tenacity and her zeal for life; she took up tap dancing at an age when many adults are starting to think about slowing down and recently she’s started spending a great deal of her free time hiking through the hills and mountains near her home on the coast of Maine. In short, if you asked me to pick the perfect mother for me, there would be no contest, I’d choose the one I got every single time.

Happy birthday Mom, I love you more than I can possibly ever put into words. I feel so lucky to have you.