Happy Mother's Day!

We disrupt this usual blog schedule to wish all you moms and soon to be moms and aunts and grandmothers and stand-in moms a very happy Mother's Day!

I've been a mom now for just over three years and I have to say it's been the most fun time - and the most draining! - of my life. But I wouldn't trade bebe in for anything in the world. I might change her sleep patterns...but I digress. Mothers, whether ours by birth or choice, are the most important people in our lives. I've been lucky in my life. I have a great mom, a wonderful mother-in-law and a core group of strong women in my past who have helped make me the woman I am today.

There was Grandma Grice (who was always referred to by both names, I don't know why, but wouldn't her last name make a great first name?). She was my great-grandmother on my mom's side of the family. She would wake up early with me in the summers when I visited her in North Carolina and walk with me for miles along the beach looking for shells. She helped me catch those little sand-bugs and fill up a jar to take home.

And then there was Big Mommy (who stood 5-feet flat and was dwarfed by my 6'0 "Big Daddy"), who talked to me and listened to my stories. She was my paternal grandmother. She's probably the reason I'm writing today. I remember one morning when my brother and I were staying at the farm, the guys were out in the field and I was "helping" Big Mommy cook. And telling her a story of some sort. She turned to me and said, "Kristi, why don't you write this one down, so I'll always have it?" So I hopped off my high stool and headed to the front room for pencils and paper. After 30 minutes I was done and took the story in to the kitchen -- and proceeded to read it to her. I think that was the opposite of what she'd hoped for --a few minutes of quiet without my story echoing in her ear. But she just smiled and hugged me.

There is my Aunt Cleon, my maternal grandmother's sister, who gave me a spiral notebook one summer and asked me to write things down in it. She inscribed it on the inside front cover, telling me that I could be or do or dream anything I wanted.

So to all my 'moms' and to all the moms reading this today, Happy Mother's Day! I hope you are rich in hugs, kisses and all things love today and always. Here's a song for you: