I don't know how you did it Mom.

An old friend of mine bought a house recently and I teased her about being 'such a grown-up'. We discussed how, at 37, we still feel like kids and are waiting for the day to come when we actually feel like adults. We talked about what our parent's lives were like at our age. I mentioned how odd it is to have very distinct memories of mine when they were 37. I said, 'I actually knew my mother when she was our age. And not just like I knew her because she was my mother, but I was old enough to know her as a real person. It's a very strange feeling.' My friend agreed and said, 'Hell, I knew your mother when she was our age!"

When my mother was my age, she'd been a teacher (in three different states), she and my father owned their second home and she'd given birth to 3 kids (the second one one came three months early and from what I remember and the stories I've been told about that scary time, it's amazing they decided to have a third). She had her hands full at 37 with my 5th grade pig-tailed self, my wild 6 year old brother and Lindsey, the loud, stubborn toddler. I can't imagine. She must have been exhausted all the time. But she was always there whenever we needed her. She still is.

I love this photo of my mother as a child. She clearly has on a new outfit and is about to leave for an event. Posing in the backyard of my grandparent's house. I've looked at this photo a zillion times, but only just now, as I was uploading it, did I notice the shadow of the person taking the photo. I think my grandfather was the photographer in the family, but the shadow looks more like my grandmother. I hope it was. It makes it all the more perfect for Mother's Day.