An Ode To My Mom (A Day Late)

I don't know why I didn't think of posting this yesterday. Probably because I was so busy being fed peeled grapes by my own private cabana boy.

This isn't so much an ode to my mom, because odes rhyme, don't they? It's more of a ... a statement, I suppose.


Back at the beginning of April, Shannon, Kylie and I went to Arizona for spring break. We did stuff. We went to an ASU softball game. That's my mom there at the top.

For those of you that are regular readers, you probably know that my oldest daughter is living with my parents this year.



This one, the teenager. That one to her right is a teenager too, but this isn't about her.

This is about my mother. My 73 year-old mother.

When she found out in December of 2008 that we were going to move to Colorado, she was concerned about my oldest daughter. We would be moving right before her senior year of high school. She was afraid Danni would be miserable, not being able to finish high school with her friends. She was probably right.

Husband moved to Colorado in December of 2008. The plan was that we would stay in AZ and let the girls finish the school year, and follow him after school was out. In the spring of that year, my mother made a very generous offer. She offered to let my teenager live with them for a year, so she could finish high school in AZ. After 25 years of being an empty-nester, she was willing to take on another teenager. We didn't ask. She offered.

We decided to let Danni make her own decision. She was 17, after all...and I knew if she stayed, she'd be in good hands.

She decided to stay. And she's been living with my parents this entire school year.

In three weeks, we're leaving to go to AZ for her graduation. After we spend a couple of weeks there, she'll be coming back to CO with us to go to college.

I'm still in awe of my mom, that at the age of 73, she was willing to take on a teenager.

When we were down there for spring break in April, just before Danni turned 18, she pulled me aside and said, "Shel, she's really a great kid. You did a good job."

Well Mom, since everything I learned about parenting, I learned from you...I would say it was you that did the good job.

Happy Mother's Day. I love you.