dear mom,

Thank you for letting me hang out in your tummy for nine months.

 Thank you specifically for having me on such a lovely island.

People think I'm puerto rican, and even though its not really true,
I still enjoy it. 

Mom and Naomi 2012 

{She still looks like a hot (grand) mama to me...}

Thank you for your loving kindness to me 
and my siblings for the past thirty plus years. 

Thank you for bribing me to go to church when I was a kid.

Much thanks for teaching me how to be strong, ambitious

 and just independent enough to not be too boy-crazy. 

Thank you for teaching me how to be a lady by example. 

Thank you for showing me how to do my laundry, 

keep a tidy home, and follow recipes. 

Thank you for showing me how to buy crafts that look homemade. 

Thank you for taking me and my sister to europe while we were still in a really obnoxious age. 


Thank you for putting up with us kids during those long camping trips
 full of stinky feet, hungry tummys, and whiney mouths. 

Thank you for teaching me and mel how to come up with fun songs and inside jokes.

Thank you for not disowning me in general during my annoying teenage years. 

Many thanks to you (and dad) for showing me what real love looks like. 


Thanks for showing us that you can be blissfully happy without marble halls or palaces (as Anne of Green Gables would say...).
Um- Thank you SO much for introducing me to Anne of Green Gables
 (and all of the works by C.S. Lewis while we're on topic).


 I guess I'm saying thanks for teaching me how to read...

Thank you for teaching me that adventure never ends unless you let it. 

Thank you for teaching me that it is possible to be crazy skinny and attractive after five kids.

Thanks Mom (and Dad) for showing me that
you can always find a reason to be grateful 

(and often a reason to laugh). 

Thanks for sticking together through the ups and the downs,
and always making sure that we knew that you both loved us mucho. 

Thanks for the video chats, the phone calls,

 and the visits to and from home. 

Thanks for always making me laugh,
even when all I really want to do is to cry.

Thanks for showing me what things matter most. 

I owe you big time, Mom.

You're the best.