My mommy. (30 days of thankfulness - day 4)

My beautiful mom had another birthday on November 1st.  How very thankful I am for her life which formed mine, which has nurtured me every day since I was born.  She's the one who taught me to swerve to the shoulder on a road trip whenever I saw a beautiful photo opportunity.  She's the one who sacrificed time and money to take me around the world when I was young, so I could experience other cultures and learn to love all different kinds of people.  She's the one who created a warm home for us, one where laughter and creativity and God's love were always present.  She's one daring woman, who writes her own raps and performs them in groups of strangers without hesitation.

She's not perfect, but what mother is?  She's not perfect, but she's mine.

The other day, we were talking about some sleep struggles I've been having with my daughter, and I told her the plan we'd put in place that was finally providing us all with a lot more sleep, peacefully.  She asked, "How did you get to be such a smart mom?" And I answered, "From watching you." I hardly feel like a "smart mom" most days but it's true - I learned about mothering from her, about compassion, and about serving.  She's never criticized my practices of attachment parenting or done anything less than fully support me in everything I've chosen in life (yes, even the unfortunate pre-teen stage when I insisted on taking TV commercial acting classes - seriously?)

All of that to say, I am thankful for my mommy.  She won't be here with me forever, so today I celebrate that she still is.

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During the month of November, I'm practicing "30 days of thankfulness" - will you join me?  Use your blog, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to voice your thankfulness for something every day in November.  My hope is that this daily routine will create in me a heart of thankfulness and gratitude, no matter the day or month or situation.