Happy Mothers Day

My mom, with her odd eyes, and her quietness.... This was taken a really long time ago, but this is how I best remember her as a child. 

Little Mango is still alive. I have been nursing her like a newborn since Thursday. It is now Sunday. She still has her head on backwards and walks backwards into corners. I have to hold her head still and take a syringe and feed her water and baby food with her antibiotics.

After I feed her I lay her on her side and put the heat lamp on her for a few minutes. She perks up, opens her eyes, says "thanks" and then tucks her head upside down and under her body.

 She is improving a little bit everyday. I think she may actually make it. The reason I bring this up is because it's Mothers Day. AND...I think I learned how to care for creatures from my mom. My mom is a nurse.

 I would say she was a nurse (she's retired now)... but really my mom has always been and will be a nurse... because she's damn good at it, and seems to always be nursing someone, or giving advice on how or what to do with a sickness or disease, or even just the common cold. She's very intuitive and quick to react.

She has a great story. My mom was born in England during the end of World War II. Her school was bombed, her neighbors homes were bombed... there was a curfew... she wasn't allowed out at night. She even had a black cloak with a muff that her grandmother gave to her. They wore it at night when they walked the streets... actually I'm not sure about this story... I 'm recalling this story from when she told it to me in the bathtub when I was around 7 or 8.

I was very close to my mom. I would take baths with her at night and she would tell me all sorts of stories about her childhood which was way different from mine. I always asked her "do you think we would have been friends if we had been the same age?" "No... I don't think so" she would say. "We are much different in personality"
You could always count on my mom to be brutally honest.
She is a quiet woman... never raises her voice, and will never have a fight with you. I am the opposite. She often looks at me shaking her head and says "I just don't know where you learned that... or why you do that..." I'm a loud mouth, speak my mind, get in your face kind of girl. My mom though....

She doesn't speak her mind if it's offensive, and never says anything to a stranger that is " off color". My mom is very old fashioned. She was raised in an age where children were to be seen but not heard. She is great for advice if you need it. She always has a one liner for you that is valuable.

"What comes around goes around" is one of my favorites.
or
"Always choose your battles"

I feel as though young people don't have lines like that anymore.

Once in a while my mom will get this look in her eye... a glint, and a funny friendly smile. It's youthful.... I can almost see her curls spring up as she remembers a funny story that I haven't heard before. She has had a great life. She has seen and done almost everything....
Almost....
But not quite.

What she really Fancy's is to take flying lessons. She LOVES to fly. She also has no fear of heights... or speed... unlike me. Who nearly poops their pants the minute the plane leaves the ground.

We went flying in a tiny little plane up in the Adirondacks, Lake Placid one summer. She was driving by... and it said, "Come fly with us Today!" My mom was like, " I want to go flying!", she pulled into this tiny little airport next to the Lake Placid Horse Show.... and we waited for our turn to get into a plane. I think I must have been about 9 or 10 at the time.
She had that look.... of excitement. She was so happy. I liked her best when she was lit up like Christmas. I learned a lot about my mom that day... and about myself.

We walked out and got into a plane smaller then my car, and scrambled into the death trap of a back seat. The pilot got in and put his earmuffs on. I was really excited! (This is before I knew that I was scared of planes, speed, and heights).

I was so busy looking out the window... the engine starts. The whole plane shudders. [Is this safe? Is this normal? Is it supposed to sound and feel like this?] Are my thoughts.... We turn... the guy mumbles some lingo into his mic... and we are off... down the runway full of potholes and death.... my mom grabs my arm and squeezes it. Her face lights up... I can see every tooth in her mouth, and her eyes which are odd colors went from green and brown to green and blue. (This is true emotion she was feeling). Her eyes have changed color people.

Anyway, we are flying down the runway, I immediately know that I have made a terrible choice of sitting in this plane. I ask them to stop... but no one can hear me over the roar of the engine. We are up! Up UP and away....
into the turbulence, and flying around mountains.... very close to mountains, dipping and weaving, dropping 50' here being pushed 70' sideways there.... my mom is over the moon. I have now noticed the silver duck tape holding the plane together... I am not thrilled. I feel as though I have left all of my blood on the ground.

Anyway, we got to see Toad Hall from a plane, which made my moms day. She kept grabbing my arm and pulling me over to her side of the death trap. I was clung to my lap belt and was waiting for my life to end.

 So this brings me back to "Would we be friends if we were the same age?" "No" We are totally different people, almost opposites.

I do love to see that woman happy though. Its hard to get that look from her now a days. She's done everything. Nothing really ruffles her feathers anymore. She is content watching her "football" (soccer) on the TV. She loves it. I hate it.... She can sit all day and read a book, I can sit for one hour and read a book about horses.

She does love my kids though.... they make her laugh and smile. And my two year old loves her more then me... I totally understand it though... because I too love her that much.
What goes around comes around I suppose.
She gave love, and now she gets it back two fold.

She's a tough old bird.. my mom. She will give you the shirt off her back. She can pull a tooth out of her own mouth without pain medication or fainting. She can beat you in Trivia Pursuit, She makes a mean cheese cake, She loves to jitterbug to big bands like Glen Miller, and she still smokes and drinks because she knows it ain't going to kill her.

She also has a fine collection of silver, china, and porcelain Royal Dalton figurines, yet her favorite fast food is Taco Bell, and a cheese steak, and pouts like a three year old if you tell her to eat her vegetables.

She could be one of the most interesting people I know, and now... you know a little about her too. She is  truly a great woman, and I'm proud to have her as my mum.
She is my best friend.... and the woman I go to for everything.

I love her more then I love myself.