Writer's Workshop 10-15-2009 (Mama)

Writer's Workshop this week is all about either our Mama's or being a Mama... I chose the former.

This is a re post for Writer's Workshop...

This is about my Mama...

Originally posted 5-14-08

Mama. The one on the right.

My Mama.

My wonderful, giving, serving, funny, dry, heart on her sleeve wearing, shirt off her back giving,

loving, Mama.

Today is her Birthday. Out of respect, I will not divulge her age. BUT! we are 19 years apart! ha ha!

She was the second person to hold all my babies when they were born, gave each of them their first bath, and to this day says she wishes she had her grandbabies first.

She was such a great unobtrusive Mama, that I wanted her on my bus for Grad Night, and begged her to attend field trips with us in high school!

We were the house to come to on Sunday afternoons, when she cooked a pot of sauce that could hold a Buick in it. She cooked for our Fohi Football team once a month, and she was known as Mama to the boys too.

She schlepped me to 18 years of dance classes and competitions, bit her nails when I tried out for cheerleading and drillteam, sent me flowers when I made it, threw me a surprise sweet 16 Birthday party, and sent me to Hawaii for my Graduation.

She has cried with me, laughed with me, consoled me, scolded me, loved me, put up with me, rolled her eyes at me, lifted me up when I was down, brought me back to earth when my ego got the better of me, and always, always, always was my Mama, and never my friend.

She helped me see the value of self respect, and taught me to be a woman of substance. She counseled me about the importance of abstinence, and didn't let me date until I was 16, and even then, with major restrictions. She showed love to my friends even though some of them weren't her "cup of espresso".

She is introverted and extroverted at the same time. She loves being around men and loves to tout how she prefers men friends over women friends... (I have yet to convince her that she needs women around her, more now than ever before), she is a peace maker and a lover of clothes. Lord have mercy, she loves clothes.

I am almost 40, and I don't think I have ever seen her in the same thing twice.

LORD HAVE MERCY SHE LOVES CLOTHES!

Way back when, when I was young, cute and thin, we shopped literally every single weekend, as much for her as for me. My Mother is definitely a girl's Mama.

She always showered me with great, beautiful things, but on one condition... and the condition had many layers. The condition was that I maintained great grades, stayed away from all forms of drugs and alchohol, was trustworthy at all times, and was not promiscuous.

I followed all those rules and was spoiled rotten, and loved every single second of it.

Nope, I'm not apologizing for it one single bit. I was a dang good kid!

She was a pilar of strength for my formative years. She was very involved with our lives and had to have copious amounts of details about everything I did. It really made me feel more loved. I remember hearing my friends say how their parents didn't care what they did, and I remember feeling sad for them. I know they felt sad too.

I truly idolized my Mama, and was grief stricken when I became a woman myself and realized that she, like all the rest of us, was human, and flawed, and didn't rest on a pedestal. But in her strength of character and defiance, she landed on her feet, with grace and dignity, with her head held high, having learned so much from her mistakes, had risen above.

She is MY Mama. I don't like sharing her. So many of my cousins adore her the way I do.

So on this, her day of birth, may I say a little prayer to God to give my grandmother a little kiss from me to say THANK YOU NANA, for having my Mama. She is a gift beyond imagination, a jewel beyond compare, a light that is always shining, and a love that is truly unconditional, because let's face it folks, I am not an easy one to be around, let alone raise, so that makes my Mama a saint!

I love you Ma!

Happy Birthday!

Sandra