Thank You Mom

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!  Sadly, I won't get to celebrate today with my mom since she is in Michigan so I thought I'd do a long distance celebration here on the blog in honor of my mom Nancy. There are so many reasons I am thankful for having her as my mom- so many things she did, gave me, taught me, showed me, and all of it is a part of why I am who I am today.   It would be hard to cover it all in a blog post so I will stick to a few highlights that tie back to some old photos I got my hands on during our last trip to Michigan (which will also be very entertaining for you)!  So...

Mom, in honor of you on Mother's Day I want to say thank you for everything but especially these highlights from my life!  Hope you enjoy these memories and stories, I miss you very much today!

First, thank you for all the years of orthodontic work on my teeth- and I mean YEARS.  I know you could have bought a Lexus or something for all the retainers, spacers, braces, headgear, and whatever else I endured to straighten out my teeth.

Money well spent, thankfully I no longer look like a human jack-o-lantern and I must say I love my smile!

Next, thank you for getting me a car on my 16th birthday.  I know I was kind of a brat about this back then since it was a Geo Metro and my friends called it a "clown car", but man I was lucky to get a car!  I'll also never forget learning how to drive a stick shift in that Geo, that had to be a hoot for our neighbors!


Note- related to the orthodontics topic, this was my 16th birthday and I had braces still. They came off my Junior year of high school... yep, wasn't kidding, nine YEARS of orthodontics!

Now to my smile-sparkle-shine years filled with french braids, frozen smiles, injuries, and sheer teenage girl madness.  Mom, thank you for enduring six years of competitive cheer.  I can't imagine how many competitions you went to over that time, or how many times you drove all around the state of Michigan to watch me execute the same routines over and over. 

I know that last year was especially tough in our quest for world domination winning the state finals.  Thank you for supporting me through it all, some of it was silly indeed but it certainly taught me to be disciplined, to never quit, work well with a team, and commit to my goals.

Lastly, thank you for letting me wear whatever I wanted which included high heels at the age of 4.  I can't imagine life without high heels!  Maybe it all started back in 1988 in this moment?  Aside from the heels, you really let me create my own style even as a teenager... which I am sure had to be scary at times.  I'm thankful for my unique style and continue to see fashion as fun!

Mom, thank you for letting me be me and for giving me all those experiences that made me who I am today.  I'm proud of the woman I've become and even though I'm not a kid anymore I hope you'll always be proud of your little high-heel wearing daughter.

And again, thank you for fixing my teeth!  My jack-o-lantern photo is somewhat embarrassing but mostly hilarious looking at it now :)  I hope everyone gets a kick out it too!

Happy Mother's Day to all moms out there, hope you feel special and loved today!