Ode to Mom

This is going to a long post - so please bear with me.  Just wanted to say how much I appreciate my Mom.  As long as I can remember, she was pointing out nature's beauty to me.  The trees, flowers, birds, even the beauty of a lightning strike.  An art major in college, she always had interesting artwork on the walls (borrowed from the library back when you could do that - can you imagine it now?).  Picasso, Gaugain, and the Impressionists.  And when she didn't want to return a particularly nice impressionist water scene with sailboats, she sat down in the den and painted a copy for us to keep.  An exact copy right there in our den. Of course, Mom made sure I had lots of time with crayons, fingerpaints, pencils, and pens.  And the day when I was very little and I drew all over our walls with a pencil (and I mean I did a MURAL folks), she didn't get mad.  She just shook her head, laughed, and washed the walls.

Anyway, Mom's artfulness spilled into our homelife.  She made a great childhood for me and my sibs and our house was filled with laughter and love.  Oh, and she let us play our rock records loudly in the living room - no complaints!

Now I know Mom is tsking right now.  She does not like being praised so much, but, maybe she has stopped reading already and headed out to the garden to enjoy her Mother's Day.