for my mom, the best ever

Today is my mom's birthday. She would be 64 today. I say "would" because she passed away when I was 15. Fuck cancer.

I meant to start this post a week ago, at least. I kept putting it off, saying it wasn't close enough yet. And then, here we are, the day of, and I'm trying to do her justice on a blog post. Which I wouldn't be able to do anyway.

But suffice it to say, my mom was the.best.ever. Seriously. She was nice, funny, goofy, adventurous and caring. She was the best of all of us. And I know that everyone that ever met her was lucky. I miss her everyday.

So here are some things about my mom:

1. She used the cherry Chapstick flavor and to this day, whenever I smell it, I think of her.

2. She was born and raised in Austin, Texas.

3. If I hear any song from either "The Big Chill" or "Cocktail" soundtrack, I immediately think of her. We used to listen to the tapes everyday when she drove me to Kindergarten.

4. She loved chips and salsa.

5. She was a physical therapist and then later became a yoga teacher.

6. She was a really good artist, but I never really saw her draw on her own unless it was with me. I wish I could ask her if she liked drawing or was just naturally good at it.

7. She taught me how to crochet-she was way better at it than I am.

8. She played the violin. I never really got to her hear play, but I did get to hear her sing. She was amazing.

9. One of my favorite songs she used to sing for warm up was the one "mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy, a kid'd eat ivy too, wouldn't you?" I just learned last year that they were actually words. I always thought it was marsey dotes and dosey dotes.

10. When I was 5, on Mother's Day, she went up into our attic to get my brother's bike down for me. Our attic wasn't finished and she stepped on an unfinished part and fell through, all the way to the garage. She didn't break any bones, but had this huge bruise on her leg. And yes, I felt terrible.

11. She had this birthmark on her cheek that I loved. My sister-in-law Tasha has the exact same one in a very similar spot and every time I see it I want to touch it.

12. She loved reading and my favorite books to read together were The Secret Garden and Little Women.

13. For my birthday at school my mom would make cheesecake cupcakes with vanilla wafers for the crust.

14. My older sisters loved her, even though she was their stepmom. My middle oldest sister said it best, "in all my life growing up, I never once wrote a bad thing in my diary about Kathy. Ever."

15. A coworker gave her a puppy for a present, and years later we both watched her have puppies.

16. She loved skiing, hiking and camping. 

17. She loved playing board games and card games, especially "scat"

18. She drove a white Acura when I was growing up. My first car was a white Acura and was exactly the same except had maroon leather interior instead of grey. She used to take my brother and me to the YMCA in the summer to go swimming and we always had to sit on our towels so the leather didn't burn our legs.

There are so many things I wish I could ask my mom. But mostly I just miss the hell out of her. And I know the rest of my family does too.

Happy Birthday Mom!