Mommy

My mom left yesterday. I was a bit of a wreck on the drive home from the airport. An emotional wreck, not  a car wreck. I held it together well enough to drive. When she came to visit when Sam was born, she left us in SLC with only 4 days until we rejoined her and the rest of the family in Anchorage for the summer, but I still bawled like baby Sammy. I was terrified of those four days, because I had no idea what I was doing. This time around, I don't know how long it will be until I get to see her again, and I cried purely because I knew I would miss her company.
There is just something special about your bond with your mother after you have children of your own. It's why I hope to have a daughter some day. When Sam and Benjy have children, their wives will probably want their own mothers there to take care of them in the aftermath, and I'll be more on the sidelines. But someday I want to be able to commiserate about the delivery and breastfeeding and all that new baby stuff with someone I brought into the world.
I am beginning to understand the amount of sacrifice it takes to be a good parent. I'm so blessed to have had good parents, both of whom sacrificed for me and my sister- and who continue to do so today. Mom, I know it wasn't easy to sleep on our hide-a-bed for two weeks, or live out of your suitcase because we only have so many sets of plastic drawers in our house (ha ha). We appreciate what you did for us more than we can say. Thanks, Dad, for letting her stay with us for so long without complaint. We hope you get to meet Benjy soon!
All the pictures of Mom and the boys are on her camera, so until she e-mails them to me (chop chop, Mom, you've been home for 24 hours now), this post will just have to end with a picture of Benjy: