My Gift to Me

If I were my mom, what gift would I give me?

If I were my mom, I would snag a “Forever” stamp, paste it to any envelope I could find and place a sheet of scratch paper with the following inside:

My Dearest,

You are absolutely beautiful and I love you more than I love life.  I've watched you grow into a strong and courageous woman who never gives up.  

My heart broke in half every time you fell but it was mended each time as you picked yourself up and moved on.  

I cried with you as your hopes and dreams drifted away so that the dreams of others could be pursued.  

I laughed and felt your joy of every single moment spent with your children…these are my most precious memories of all! 

I’m so very sorry that I could not be at your side through all of these experiences, but please know that I have lived them through you.  My spirit has been entrenched in your heart and I hope that you have felt my love all of these years.  

I so look forward to the day when we can throw our arms around each other again.

I love you,

Mom

My beloved mother passed away many years ago, shortly after I became a mother for the first time.  The gift that I would treasure most, would be the knowledge that in some way she has been able to watch as my life has blossomed.

This post is part of Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop.  Please click here and treat yourself to some great stories by some really fabulous writers! 

Thank you for stopping by today, and Happy Mother's Day!

My Happy Place

This is my most favorite place to be...THE BEACH!  I was so blessed to grow up in Southern California where a trip to the beach was always 30 minutes away!  As a child, my summers were spent squeezing as many neighborhood kids we could into my parents' station wagon (mini-vans were not yet invented) and making the trip down Beach Boulevard from Buena Park to Huntington Beach. Everyone had to carry something from the car to the sand so that all our stuff made it in one trip!  

The beach always held something magical for me.  I never had a bad day at the beach...well maybe once...but all the great times overshadowed that "one" bad time.  I had an argument with a plastic raft and it flipped me over so that I rode the wave "under" the raft and not on top of it.  As the wave brought me to the sand, it brushed me over a bunch of shells...a bunch of "oh doesn't that feel good now" shells!  I survived, but it took me a long time to go back into the water after that. 

I remember the beach was always sunny.  There was always a gentle breeze.  There was always the smell of the sea in the air and in my hair and on my body (along with the sunblock) and then sand all over my feet and inside of my bathing suit and I always had to wash myself off on the patio when I got home!  I didn't care!  I LOVED THE BEACH! 

As I grew older and had a driver's license, I didn't have to wait for mom to drive me to the beach.  I could drive myself...and I did...really want to.  Before school, during school and after school....I would dare myself to take that car and GO!  But I never did! I ditched school once in my entire high school life and do you think I went to the Beach?  No, I hung around so I could get caught!  But I made up for it in college...and I still graduated.  

I have the most wonderful childhood memories of summers at the beach.  As well, I have many wonderful memories as a young adult where I could go and be alone with my thoughts as I listened to the waves and inhaled the familiar smells.  When my children were born, we took them as often as we could.  When we moved to the mid west, I though I wouldn't survive.  There are no beaches in the mid west...there are places that call themselves beaches, with tiny little ripples they call waves...but they are not the beaches of Southern California!   

On our visits home, and after the plane lands and we've hit the closest In-N-Out, we head for the beach. We all become 10 years old again and we welcome the magic of the Beach with open arms!  

My Happy Place is part of Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop.  Please stop by to read about the favorite places of her many friends!

Thanks for stopping by today.