My mom.....aka the mother leaf

     Six years ago this month a lot of things were happening in my life.  I had just come home from seeing my dad for the last time.  It was our final good-bye.  He would die on June 13th.
     I also walked into a stark and sterile room at the IMC hospital in Midvale, Utah to see my mom lying in a bed.  She was in a critical care unit.  Earlier in the day she had been at the L.D.S. Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah to have a stress test done on her heart.  As she ran on the treadmill she became very dizzy, her heart rate increased but her blood pressure decreased.  She collapsed and immediately had to be taken by ambulance to the IMC Hospital where it was determined she would need a pacemaker.
     I had just returned from seeing my dad.  My parents had been divorced for twenty nine years.  My mom has always been there for her five children. She has taken care of herself without financial help from my dad for all of those years.  She took care of my younger brother George both financially and physically without any help from my dad.  My mom is the lady I admire most in my life.  I love this picture of her:

I love my mom; she gave me birth
Because of her, I am here on Earth.

I love my mom; she knows me best
Even at times when our love has been put to the test.

I love my mom; when I failed ninth grade sewing class
She made me take summer lessons, so the next time I would pass.

I love my mom; she taught me to cook and to bake
Because of her, I always have food I can make.

I love my mom; for when my cookies were hard and brown and flat,
She would always eat them and tell me, some people like cookies like that.

I love my mom: she is very courageous and strong
She has been on her own thirty five years and makes it seem like a song.

I love my mom for being there for George,
It's not easy raising five kids; especially with a son whose problems are as wide as a gorge.

I love my mom for being his eyes, his ride, his strength
One day his strides will match yours length by length.

I love my mom for the food she would make;
Even though I was a picky eater and I would not shake.

I am not eating those mushrooms, spaghetti or meatloaf
I am not trying your liver and onions, eww!

I love my mom, her stuffed green peppers are mighty fine,
Her sugar cookies, fudge and divinity are divine!

I love you mom for putting up with me,
The daughter who sometimes didn't see;

The angel, the princess, the Queen
I would be so different without you, this is what I mean;

You taught me to live, to laugh and to love;
I just wanted you to know now; not when you are in Heaven above.

I love you mom, so I got you this card;
I know you will love it.  You will laugh really hard!

Inside reads:  Mom, thank you for your gentle encouragement throughout the years.  I love you mom!  Happy Mother's Day!