Happy Birthday to the most wonderful woman I know!!

this does NOT look like a 61 year old!!

Yesterday, September 9th, my mom turned 61.
We went out to lunch at Red Lobster, and went out shopping for candles at Yankee Candle and she chose a wind chime to hang at her new house.  It was a nice day. 
My mom jokes sometimes that I need to "cut the chord" with her, but I'll tell you what....being as close as I am to my mom is a blessing from God, and I have no intention of cutting it.  Ever.

I could literally write pages and pages about my mom, but obviously I am not going to do that.  I am just going to say that if us women in the world could be more like her, we would have happier husbands, happier children, and be happier in general.  She is selfless, gentle, smart.  She knows when to hold her tongue, and when to say something.  When she has to say something that would sting, she chooses her words carefully, and you know she does it out of love.

My mom is one of the strongest women I know.  She has faced many, many heartbreaks.  She lost both her parents at a very young age, and when I try to imagine what it would be like raising my children without my mom in my life??  Well...I can't.  It has to be something that is difficult to do.  She lost her son.  I imagine Mary when she watched her son die on that cross.  The pure heart wrenching pain she felt.  My mom chose to continue to live after Danny died.  A part of her died with him, but she lives on for my Dad.  For Lisa.  For Me.  For her grandchildren.

Thank you for the lessons you CONTINUE to teach me.  Thank you for being my biggest fan.  Thank you for believing in me when others didn't.  Thank you for never giving up on me.

I love you.
Kristy