Eleven years of wonderful

I realize how much television and movies have influenced me when I try to describe my mother. Like Mary Poppins, she was "practically perfect in every way."

Other references  that come to mind ... the first line from the "Love Story" theme, "Everybody Loves Raymond" and a line spoken by Julia Roberts in the movie, "Steel Magnolias."

I can hear Andy Williams crooning, "Where do I begin?" I could belt it out myself.

Where do I begin to tell the story of how great a mom can be? It's impossible for me to explain all that made her wonderful. 

My mother had a knack for turning ordinary household items into the most magical play things. She knew how to make everything special. 

A jar of buttons in all shapes, sizes and colors poured onto a tray was one of my favorite past times. I loved comparing them, sorting them and picking out my favorite ones. I just wasn't good at sharing them.

A small paper bag filled with the rubber rings from Mason jar tops could keep me occupied for hours. The rings became my bracelets that painfully pinched the hairs on my arms as I pushed them up to my elbow. I loved to toss them, stack them and count them. Again, I just wasn't good at sharing them. 

My mother could fold a piece of white paper and make a few cuts and suddenly I had a string of paper dolls all holding hands. She cut the bottoms out of paper cups and behold,  I had a pair of sandals. She turned a bowl full of water and a bit of dish washing liquid into a giant mountain of bubbles with a few cranks from an old-fashioned hand-mixer. Before I knew it,  I had the most magnificent foamy drinks for my tiny tea sets. Pretend drinks, of course. 

Like Raymond, everybody loved my mother. My family, my cousins, my neighbors, even my classmates.

Every Easter, she would make candy bunnies for my class using pastel colored marshmallow eggs. She carefully cut pieces of marshmallows and stuck them on as long ears and bobbed tails. And, finished them off by meticulously painting eyes, a nose and whiskers.

Since she saved everything from my childhood, I still have the thank you notes addressed to her that were carefully printed from each student. They are in a box with all of my Valentines, report cards, birthday cards and art projects in my basement. 

I know it's a fire hazard but the boxes of keepsakes are my connection to my past...my connection to my mother.

Everything about her was special. And though I only had her for eleven years, I wouldn't trade my short time with her for a lifetime with any other mother.

In the words of Shelby in "Steel Magnolias," Julia Roberts says, "I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special."

Happy Mother's Day to my mother. A woman who created my most treasured memories, who was loved by everyone and who, quite simply, was wonderful.

Thank you for all of the wonderful!