Happy Mother's Day

So today is the day where we get to say thanks to our mums for being so wonderful. I remember celebrating Mother's Day with my family, all six of us kids piled onto mum's bed watching her unwrap whatever we had bought at the last minute at the mother's day stall the Thursday before, or made in school the Friday before with such pride. I remember being so excited about this day, and I couldn't wait to celebrate it with my own kids, but being on the other side of this day is so not what you think it will be when you're a kid. The attention of course is lovely, and for a few minutes it does feel like a second birthday, but since I didn't become a mother for the gratitude, (especially since there is so little received when you're dealing with a baby) then today really is just like every other day.

As that is my attitude of the day, I'd like to spend this blog talking about someone other than myself for a change. As I'm sure you're all aware, I also have a mother, and for me, this day is still about her as without her I wouldn't be who I am today. (The totally insane, poorly organized filthy humoured person I have grown to love). I am still amazed that she managed to single handedly raise a family of six children without any of them ending up as criminals, drug addicts or worse, liberal supporters. And she's still helping us today. I've never hidden the fact that if it wasn't for my mum, Miss K and I would be homeless as with the cost of housing as it is, if I was to move out of here, we wouldn't be able to eat. She is also for all intents and purposes Miss K's second parent (but she gets away with spoiling her like a grandparent), and she has supported and helped me through all the terrible decisions I have made thus far, when lesser people would have long given up on me as a lost cause. This is on top of all the rehearsals she drove me to for my school plays, the doctors appointments she took me to in Melbourne when I had epilepsy, and the conferences she had with my teachers all through primary school and high school. (I had a giant invisible target on my back only ever seen by the meanest of bullies through most of my school life.)

I've asked my mum in the past what her secret was, and how she managed to cope with having six kids at home all at once, but she always says the same thing. You just get up and do it. She fails to see how her work is anything incredible, but all I can hope is that I am half the mother that she is to all of us, and our friends, and our partners and anyone else who comes into our lives.

Sadly my mother hates getting her photograph taken, and she would hate any photos of her to show up on this blog, so I've had to settle with an artist's rendition of my mother for now.

Did I forget to mention I am terrible at drawing?? But you get the idea. If my mum was a stick person then this is probably what she'd look like. Just think of it as my homage to mum.

So to my mum and all the other mums out there, happy Mother's Day and thank you all for being so wonderful.