Why Mother's Day is Special to Me

Today is a truly  special day for me. Mother's Day.


It is not so much that it is a holiday but rather the meaning of Mother's Day. My husband, Ken, still asks me after nearly 43 years of marriage, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"


He knows my answer will be, "A wife, mother and grandmother."


I feel so blessed that I was able to become all of those things. Being a mother is one of my greatest joys in life. I was blessed with two beautiful children, Karin and Kenny. They blessed our family with their spouses, Bill and Marissa.




Our family grew again when our three grandsons, the A-Team, Aaron, Andrew, and Austin were given to us.


Motherhood has been a time of fun, learning, gritting my teeth, times of embarrassment, and times I wish I could have back. My children grew up too fast and now my grandsons are doing the same thing.


People talk about what ages they enjoyed their children the most, but I don't think I can pick any certain time. Watching children grow through all their stages is so exciting and interesting. I enjoyed their excitement at seeing or touching something new, watching them master their first steps or learning to talk, writing their name, or drawing me a special picture or card...how could I choose one as more important than another?


Going to their sports events and seeing them win or lose, but grow more mature and understanding through it all.


Helping with homework, even though at times I was probably as frustrated as they were, and then watching them succeed in school and move on into the world and become successes.


Having my children as adults is just as rewarding as having them as children. My children have shown me their strengths, their weaknesses, their needs and their compassion.


Kenny loves to race and excel. Nothing can be half-way with him. It's all or nothing.


Karin loves her boys, devotes herself to them, and enjoys their antics even when most parents would be pulling their hair out. To have half a dozen extra children at her home does not faze her. She is truly wonderful with kids.


I don't ever feel like I was the perfect mother, the best mother, or the mother who knew just what to do or say at the right time. I fumbled along like most mothers do but I am proud to be a Mother, and most of all, proud to be the mother of my two children.


Happy Mother's Day to all the lucky women out there who love being a mother as much as I do!

Big Heart

The last six weeks have been hectic and stressful for Ken and I. You see, foolish as we were, Ken had been having chest pains for several months. He blew them off as indigestion and when they didn't go away, starting ingesting antacids. Many nights he spent sleeping in his recliner because the pain seemed to subside in this position.

We tried watching foods to see if certain things caused the "indigestion". We paid attention to activities of the day to see if that was causing the pain. He stayed away from alcohol in hopes that something in it was causing the pain. Nothing seemed to work. So we spent many nights sleeping in the living room because I didn't want to leave him out there alone in case he needed me.

We also considered that the stress of having two homes to maintain while we were waiting to sell our previous home could be a big part of the problem. Ken really worried about the other house when we moved into our new home.

Throughout the months since we moved, Ken got a lot of things done around the house, some things that I was content to let wait until our other house sold. He bought and installed a dishwasher and a garbage disposal, things that I could have done without for a while. He tried to get things fixed up and make it more like home as soon as he could. All the while he was doing these things, he was doing it for me.

Things seemed to fall in place for us. We hadn't planned to move last year but we did, to a smaller one floor house. This would be so much easier for us as we aged.

At the end of December our agreement with our realtor was up and the house still hadn't sold. Not that she didn't try, but it just didn't. So we changed to a realtor who we noticed had been selling homes in the area of ours. We signed the paperwork with the realtor on a Saturday in late January. He showed the house on Thursday and then again on Saturday, one week after we went with him. The Saturday people loved the house and wanted it. We signed a contract with them on Sunday. Since they were cash buyers (how often does that happen?) we signed the title work papers on Friday. Not even two weeks had gone by before the house was sold and the papers signed.

Two weeks later Ken's pain was so bad that finally he relented and we went to emergency. He was admitted and put through tests, a stress test and then a heart catheterization in a matter of 3 days. The following day he had open heart surgery and came through just fine.

So buying a one floor house, selling the other house, and then the surgery seemed to fall in line. I think God was working things out for us. I can't imagine what his recuperation would have been like if we still had that big 3 story home.

When the surgeon came out of the operating room to talk to us, he said, "This surgery was more difficult than I had thought it would be. Ken has a very big heart which necessitated extra work."

Whoaa....if he only would have asked me, I could have told him that!

Ken is such a good man with such generosity and kindness, everyone who knows him, knows he has a big heart! Thanks Ken for taking care of all the things you have. Now it is time for him to recuperate so we can live life to the fullest again.