Mom

Today is Mom's birthday. She would have been 82 years old today. As I sit and think back to all the sweet times, a few memories stand out in my mind:

1. She always loved to cook holiday meals. The idea of having her whole family together excited her so very much and all she could think about was all the food she "had" to prepare!

2. Shopping - she loved to go shopping; however, she never tried on anything nor did she rarely buy anything. She always had to "think about it" before buying it.

3. Even though I rarely saw her buy anything....she always looked beautiful! Mom was always colored co-ordinated - right down to her shoes! I was always amazed how she could make everything match!

4. Fried shrimp - oh man, Mom cooked shrimp for us all the time! It made such a mess in the kitchen, but it was so worth it!

5. And my favorite memory - when the family was all together, my sister-in-law and my sister would wait until it was getting late and then we'd ask Mom to play Liverpool Rummy with us. She always played....yawn after yawn....but never gave in. If you've never played Liverpool before, you play with 2 decks of cards and with each hand you deal one more card than the last, and the requirements change from what you needed to get from the last time. So, Mom would always be saving cards for what she needed for the last hand not the present one. She always made us laugh! We loved playing cards with her.

So, happy birthday, Mom. It'll be so fun to get to laugh with you again some day.