Dandelions.



Have you ever been given a dandelion when you felt like you were worth a palm tree? Or even a daisy, for heaven's sake?

I grew up poor. That being said, you might understand the trauma I faced when I had to go to school in Palmetto's when all of my classmates were wearing Guess jeans. All for a stupid triangle to accentuate my big 6th grade butt, I tell you.  It seems to me that Palmetto's are the dandelions of Guess. Wouldn't you say?

Now that I'm all grown up and could really care less about name brands, spending most days dressed as a vagabond in my house, I have other dandelion issues.

For instance, I have spent hours grieving over the loss of all of Evan's pictures and videos.

However. I have EVAN.

Besides, when I reflect on all the times a certain little 2 year old boy named Dawson learned to pick flowers and give them to mommy, they were nearly always dandelions. Only they were like palm trees when he gave them to me. Okay, so there were a few times that Dawson picked flowers from the neighbors flower bed. But I didn't tell.

Too bad our neighbor didn't have palm trees.

The Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad, Mother's Day

Have you ever had a day that just goes wrong? One thing after another just piles up. And then to top it off, it's a day that's supposed to actually be fun and happy? Like say... Mother's Day?

That was my day yesterday.

It all began with an attempt to get Mother's Day pictures with me and the boys.

Yes, picture at least 5 more pictures of this magnitude of horror.

I mean, of course we wanted to spare ourselves the tragedy of my first Mother's Day with Dawson that have no photos to show for it. I've had words to say about that on not just one but several occasions.

We went to lunch at a place where we were able to sit down immediately! But the food was no good.

So we decided to go for a hike to enjoy the new jogging stroller we bought and work off the lousy food we had just consumed.

Say hi to Evan who doesn't seem to like the new stroller.

The hike was enjoyable enough right up until I was pushing Evan up a steep hill and lost footing on the crumbling dirt. Just as I was yelling out to Jason to reach down and grab him, the stroller crashed on it's side. Of course Evan just sat through the ordeal like I crash him every day. He didn't even make a noise. He just sat there like it was routine. "Oh okay, this is the part where mom wrecks our brand new stroller with me in it and we go crashing sideways. We've done that every day since I was born." After much yelling and use of the word "freakin" we got the stroller up the hill.

We finished the hike and returned home.

This is where I decided to do a blog post as a tribute to my mom.  So I went and got our external hard drive that has every single picture on it that we own. I plugged it into my laptop and was plugging away, when Jason stopped in and asked if I could grab him a pop from the refrigerator and to please hurry because he and Dawson were thirsty. So I quickly turned and ran directly into the cord plugged into the hard drive which plummeted to the ground and BROKE. As in, we cannot get the pictures off the hard drive. As in, we have no videos or pictures of Evan since the day he was born, except for the few pictures (no video) I have posted on FB and on this blog. This means, after much research and many calls to computer disaster businesses -if we want to fork over up to $1,600 to extract those photos from the hard drive, there is a chance they can be recovered. A chance.

I'm all cried out.

Maybe I should end this blog post with a plea to all of our friends and family who might have any photos or video of Evan from the time he was born until recently, to please let us have whatever you have. We would greatly appreciate it.

May all other Mother's Days exceed this one in awe and splendor. Amen.

MOM: A Tribute

Dear Mom,

It's me. The baby of the family. Of course by saying that I'm referring to chronological order. No comments from any of my sisters for that one! I'll get to your tribute in just a minute mom. I think I should use this minute to tattle on Anita, because one time she called me a spoiled brat. She's not too old to spank.

Ahem. Dear Mom,

You were born:

You weren't questioning that were you? Hopefully I just put your mind at ease.

This is beautiful you.

Actually, all of the pictures I'm going to post of you are beautiful you. But let's begin with high school.

I wish you still had those glasses. Do you remember what you were wearing on picture day? Because black is a good color on you.

While we're celebrating high school, let's show off this little gem.

Prom! Prom is a weird word, isn't it. Keep saying it over and over. Prom Prom Prom Prom.

But look! I wore a sleeveless dress to my prom just like you did mom! My picture should should have been in black & white too, though, because I was pasty white. White porcelain. Or glue colored.

Back to you.

 Do you remember the time you "babysat" for the twins?

Good thing I was there to help out by taking pictures.

Speaking of babysitting, who are these two hoodlums with you in the church directory photo?

I'm not sure what the comment had to do with babysitting. At least it provided a transition. Transitions matter in Mom tributes. While we're gazing at the precious picture of you with my sweetheart nieces, let me take a minute to reflect with you on that time of our lives. Thank you for being Jesus to those girls. So young an impressionable, and having gone through such heartbreak (all of us), you remained strong, and kept us all together. The only way you did it was because you were constantly on your knees before our Heavenly Father. What a legacy you will leave us.

Not that I'm saying you are going to die soon! 

Gosh. I have to put a disclaimer on everything I say.

Thank you for the nights you stayed up with me to watch Star Search. Limited Warranty! Thank you for letting me dance in the living room pretending I was Grace Kelly dancing with Fred Astaire. (Thank you Aunt Patti, for letting me borrow your movies).  You didn't even make fun of me. Maybe you did when you snuck to your bedroom. If you did, I'm ending this tribute.

Just kidding.

You brought us together every Christmas by presenting your precious Jesse Tree.

How many families can say they do this?

Bobbie, next year I get to hang the cross!

Family.

Remember the fun times you've had with yours:

I love you Mom.