I love her... Even if she forgets.

Today is my Mother's birthday.
I was trying to figure out what to say about my mother.
So, I decided to tell you about the first thing that came to my mind when I thought of her.

I was going to tell you about how strong she is.
She is Wonder Woman! She has endured so many things in her life - any one of these things would crush most people, but she keeps right on going.

I was going to tell you about the fact that she was "cool". When my father rode his big motorcycle, she didn't hop on the back. She got her own and rode beside him!

I was gonna tell you about how smart she is. She graduated top in her class, and then decided to go back to school when she was 50 for her Masters Degree and came out one of the top nurse practitioners in the Houston area!

I was going to tell you that I got my weakness for animals from her. She cannot go look at a puppy without bringing at least one home with her.

Instead... The story that came to mind is the great Black Eye Controversy.

When I was in the 3rd grade, we had a Great Dane named Domino.
We lived in Ohio where half of the year it is a snowy, slushy, muddy mess outside.
This meant that when you brought Domino inside, you had to walk her around on the carpet in the sunroom to clean the mud off of her feet before you could let her in the house.

I was walking Domino around the sunroom like a good little girl when she bumped a ladder that was leaning against the wall.
The ladder fell and hit me right in the eye.
My eye immediately swelled shut and turned dark purple.
It was a very impressive black eye!

Jennifer Marco's mom said it was the worst black eye she she had ever seen!
Shannon Booth's mom made me cookies because she felt so sorry for me!
So of course, I was thrilled! I loved the attention.

Years later, Worker #1 was playing with a friend and was hit in the eye with a ball. He was very upset when I told him he was gonna have a black eye.
I tried to comfort him by telling him about my horrible black eye.

He called my mother to ask her about it.
She didn't remember!
Her beloved, perfect daughter had the world's worst black eye, and she doesn't remember!
What kind of mother forgets one of the most traumatic & impressive injuries ever??

I have spent countless hours trying to figure out why or HOW or WHY my mother could forget such a monumental moment in the life of her oldest daughter.
I have laid awake nights with tears trickling down my cheeks because my mother obviously doesn't love me enough to care.
**sniff**

But I'm totally over it now....

Happy Birthday, Mom...
I love YOU.