That whole squeaky wheel theory is about as true as it gets. I've written endlessly about my difficult dad, but I haven't said much about my mom, and she really deserves a couple of words.
First of all, notice how youthful and lovely she is in this picture. It was taken last November just after her braces were removed. I never thought we looked alike, but it turns out we have the same teeth, and I have half of her smile (the left half).
Mom is less than thrilled with our plan to move 3,000 miles away and take her grandchildren too, but she's not holding it against us. She's come down to the bay (a two-hour drive) plenty of weekends the last few months, most recently to help us with our insane See Ya Soon sale.
My friend Kate stopped by our sale and, in her words, "wandered around like a little dark cloud saying, 'but it's all of your stuff, everything you own, right here on the sidewalk," and then she had to leave because it was all too much for her.
Mom, though. She was wheeling and dealing, and I knew it had to be almost as hard for her to see the treasures trotted off with as it was for me. She was a trooper. She didn't even squeak when we sold Sweet Potato's jogging stroller-- which she bought for me as a Christmas gift ten years ago.
My mom has been reading my blog, too, and today I found out that she's been researching zone 5 plants to help me plant green things in The Woods that will attract hummingbirds. She wanted it to be a surprise, but then I had to go ahead and blog about the pineapple weed, so she decided to tell me. Yay for the hummingbirds!
This weekend she's visiting again, and she's going to teach me how to knit so I can make scarves when the snow starts to fall in The Woods, and Buckaroo and I are stuck indoors. I'm also going to (finally!) learn to play the dagnabbed guitar my bonus-dad bought me many years ago, so I can sing songs by the lake in the summer time just like he does.
That way, when the big kids are at school, and I'm winter house bound-- or after I return from snowshoeing (another activity I intend to take on)-- I'll knit and strum, and it will be like my parents are right there with me.
Oh, and did I mention that my mom installed a webcam by herself? I'm not sure I could have done it. She's become a technical genius-- all in pursuit of our familial happiness.
I sure am gonna miss her.
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