DesignsandEvents: A Tribute to Mom

Hey, Everyone! It's almost Mother's Day and time to celebrate Mom! I've been thinking about all that mothers and grandmothers mean to us and would like to give a little tribute to all you moms out there---Young and Old and Everyone in between!

The more I thought about moms and motherhood the more I realized it is really too big a

subject to cover in a little post such as this. My mother and grandmothers have been

such impactful influencers in my life that I find

it hard to put my feelings into a few simple words.

My grandmother, my mom and me

I guess Abraham Lincoln didn't have a problem putting his feelings for his mother into

words when he said, "All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."

What a tribute! How sweet it is that he thought of his mother in such a way.

They must have had a wonderful bond.

My mom's garden. At 80, she is still taking care of it all by herself.

For me, putting my feelings into words was harder than I thought. My mother is elderly now but, I still have many memories of spending countless hours on the phone talking about all kinds of things and going out to lunch everytime I would visit her on Cape Cod. We would always try to stop by one of our favorite gift shops or garden nurseries after our lunch. (Now that I think of it, we actually still do these things!) We are still making memories~

I remember the "words of wisdom" she dispensed and many of them still ring true in my ears to this day.

I have memories of learning how to make hors d'oeuvres, as she called them--not appetizers, by her side as she prepared for her many parties. I also remember getting so good at making them that I was the designated hors d'oeuvres chef of the family for quite a while :).

I have memories of Mom teaching me how to sew and knit; memories of how impressed she was that I learned how to crochet all by myself!

I have memories of being in awe of how stylish she was. My mom was a highly skilled seamstress and, as a child, I remember Mom working tirelessly at her sewing machine whipping up beautiful outfits for herself and for me, as well. You would never have know the outfits were homemade. Every stitch was perfect and every outfit fully in style. She always looked like a million bucks.

My own experience as a mother was slightly different from that of my mom's but all the things I learned from her carried through. I liked being in style and for a long time I made my own clothes and clothes for my kids, too. I hosted my share of parties and family gatherings and my daughters were always there to lend me a hand. My son and I shared some of our own adventures, too. He once drove me to the grocery store in the middle of a snowstorm a few days before Christmas. I was having a large crowd for the holiday and needed to buy some groceries. With his dad away on business, he was my knight-in-shining-armor. I hope he remembers that story with as much fondness as I do. Of course, like you, I have a million and one stories of special moments with my children that I hold close to my heart.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the young mothers of today. I think they are doing a terrific job! I watch my daughter and daughter-in-law and marvel at how wonderfully they are mothering their families. Boy, the stresses and demands of being a mom today are something else but, they seem to navigate through all of it with grace and love. "Grace and Love". Well, there you have it--two simple and definitive words to describe mothers. I did find "a few simple words" to express my feelings, after all. I guess it wasn't has hard as I thought :).