I want my mommie….no for real…I’m having major mama withdrawals! We came back from Chicago about a month ago and we had such an amazing time. I finally got the chance to browse through the pictures we took on my phone, DSLR, and even on hubby’s phone. It was nice to see our trip flash before my eyes…picture after picture.

It was one picture in particular that really impacted me. A picture my husband took one day that he was on daddy duty with the boys and I was enjoying some much needed “me time” with my amigas. Hubby isn’t one to willingly see something and say “oh let me take a picture” so seeing this picture really meant something. Thanks hubby, you #nailedit.

It may seem like a simple picture to most but I saw so much more in it. I see this picture and I see pure joy. I see my mom proudly engaging in quality time with her grandchildren. I see my nephew and my boys enjoying their grandma and the activity she has engaged them in. I see my mom’s house, the living room that houses many beautiful childhood memories. I see my sister and I once doing similar activities with my mom. I see love….AND I see myself as my mom.

It is no surprise to say that I am who I am because of my mom. Growing up I would have never said that, but now as an adult and as a mother myself I can clearly see a reflection of myself in my mom. It wasn’t until I saw this picture that I really processed it. I, myself, do plenty of activities like this with my boys and my nephews. And in this picture it hit me as to why I love doing these kind of activities….cuz I get it from my mamaaa!!!

My mom has rooted many great qualities in the up-bringing of my sister and I.  We were always in some kind of extracurricular activity…swimming, dancing (ballet, tap and jazz), and enrolling us into any program we wanted. At one time I remember she asked us to pick a language we wanted to learn…my sister picked French, I picked German?! HA. I didn’t last long and I don’t remember a single thing but my mama went along with it. I remember so many mom-daughter trips we would do together. She took us to Disney World, Cancun (with my tia’s from California), Wisconsin Dells (by train in the middle of Chicago winter) and many day trips near Chicago.

I remember my mom always taking us to the bookstore and letting us pick whatever we wanted (hence my love for books). I remember my mom letting my sister and I rearrange the furniture in our living room, only to make us change it back to how it was a few days later (hence me letting the boys make forts and tracks with our sofa cushions). My mom would come home to find the entire living room rearranged because my sister and I though we were interior designers. HA! I remember my mom letting me decorate my room however I wanted too. I once had every inch of the wall covered in posters of dogs and cats. Then I converted my door into a collage of the Backstreet Boys (BSB FOREVER babyyy). I even painted my entire room in pink…including the ceiling (hence my creative ambition)! I can go on and on about the specifics but we’d be here all day.

Thanks to my mom and her continuous unconditional love, my sister and I are who we are. We’ve been blessed with an amazing mama, who I’m sure we drove pretty crazy in our adolescent years…sorry mama! Lesson learned. Everything makes sense now. Sorry for slamming doors (only for her to remove the door in my room to teach me a lesson), sorry for racking up the phone bill (she took my Mickey Mouse phone from my room and never gave it back), and yeah….sorry for all the shenanigans I would get myself into.*

So thank you mama for all the tough love and tender care you continue to give us. We say it to our mama all the time…thank you, we love you and we appreciate you. I encourage all of you to do the same. I am sure most of you already do. I am sure some of you wish you could say it one more time. You see many times we take many things for granted…our loved ones to be specific. Becoming a mother and living out of state has really made me reflect on my relationships with the people I love and through that reflection I have been able to express love and emotion with ease. So lets not wait for that special occasion or tragedy to express ourselves to our loved ones. Do it now!

Side note: Isn’t it funny that in the picture my mom is making handprint art with my boys to gift to me, which is symbolic alone, yet the impact of seeing them engaged in the activity was the real gift! 

*We’ll leave it at that because my nephews and kids may read this one day and our story is I was the perfect child who ALWAYS listened!