I Have Too Much To Say

This is usually true anyway, but today is my mom's birthday (read more about that in the last post) and I want to sit around and tell stories about her. They're all good! Honest.

The Tonsillectomy

It wasn't her tonsils that were removed, they were mine. But she plays a big role in this, because, well, she's my mom. She was the one that used the ice crushing machine thingy to make me slushies all day long. She also found Dole Natural Fruit Juice bars (I can personally attest to their awesomeness) which were one of the only things by throat would allow me to eat. But the thing I will always always always remember will be the night that I was in so much pain I couldn't sleep. She came into the room because she heard my teeth chattering (they do that when I'm in pain. Don't ask why. I don't know the answer. They just do.) She got me out of bed, gave me medicine, and then she read out loud to me for several hours (This is after 12pm, people!) from a Lori Wick book until I fell asleep. That's love.

Nightmares

I was a fraidy-cat as a child. I couldn't watch or hear anything scary and still be able to sleep at night. However, my dad worked nights, so my mom often let me sleep with her so that I would actually sleep. I felt so much better when I was in her bed with her there. I'm not sure she enjoyed it so much, because, I was a mover. She would wake up because she was suffocating from my arm or leg that had been thrown across her throat. But she still let me sleep with her . . . a lot. I'm glad she survived that.

Only Dad Can Do It

My dad was downstairs with us and he was in a reminiscent mood, so he looked up some old Jimmy Buffett songs that he used to listen to. We were down there, laughing as we listened to Fins and Cheeseburger in Paradise when all the sudden we heard the door to the downstairs open and my mom yelled down, "WHO'S LISTENING TO HEATHEN MUSIC DOWN THERE??!" We all froze mid-laugh. Then my dad yelled back up, "JUST ME, PATTY!" pause. "Oh. Okay then."

The Cleaning Fairy

You know how in the story of the story of the shoemaker and the elves, how the shoemaker goes to bed one night and wakes up to all these newly made pairs of shoes? Well, that's what it was like in my house when we're were going to have company. I would go to bed one night when the house was dirty, and I would awaken to a CLEAN house! It was so magical. But instead of elves, we had . . . my mom.  Someday, I will do that, and when my children jump out of their beds very early the next morning, I will say to them, "The cleaning fairy must have come by last night! I think this means we should all go back to bed for a loooong time..."

Take a Hike

Let it never be said that my mother did not aid my love for books. One day, at a time when we only had one car and my dad had it at work, my mom and I decided to walk to the library to get some books. It's only a short 2.1 mile jaunt and "it's good exercise!". It was also stinkin' hot. But, we were determined to succeed. So we walked all the way down, I think I pulled a muscle, but I was a weakling, so it's okay. We huffed and puffed up that HUGE hill that leads to our library, gratefully allowed the A/C to blast over us once we reached our destination, picked out too many books to logically carry back home, but carried them back anyway. It was awesome. Nothing like good quality time with my momma. 

Hug-Hug

As me and my two older brothers got older and started to have random disagreements, my mom devised a cruel form of torture. She would find us squabbling about something lame. Of course you realize that I was never to blame for such things, I'm sure it was always my brothers. She would have us work it out and then just to clear up all those upset feelings she would say those two dreaded words. Hug-hug. What does this mean? Why, it means that I must subject myself to being hugged by a teenage boy and they had to subject themselves to being hugged by their sister. Disgusting. And if we even started to hesitate she would say, "Don't make me turn it into hug-hug, kiss-kiss..." We would then hug each other quickly. So quickly in fact, it was more like my brothers were just clubbing me in the back with their hands as they reached around me. Anyways, I think it did my mom's heart good to see us at least pretend to show affection for one another. Or maybe it just made her laugh. Watch, now she'll make me hug one of my brothers over Christmas. Ah well, I miss them, so I would give them a hug anyway. 

If someone sees my mom in the next few days, could you give her a hug for me? Thanks. 

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