Good morning! Let me start off by saying this is a special day for me in so many ways, and I hope your day, regardless of whether you are a mom or not, is special.

Growing up as a girl in the 60's, I always wanted to be a mommy. I played dolls and Barbies and "house" by myself and with my friends incessantly. It was always our main topic of play. We all wanted to be beautiful like Audra on "Big Valley", and even though we all had those crazy short pixie haircuts with ridiculously short bangs, we dreamed of long, blonde tresses and a hunky cowboy to sweep up off our feet.

In August of 1970 my dream world was shattered. My mommy, Milly, was taken by that nasty thing called cancer. She started smoking at the tender age of 12, back behind the barn rolling cornsilks with her best friend. By age 48 she was gone- an inoperable brain tumor from metastatic lung cancer. I was almost 11.

Valentine's Day 1971 brought a new woman into my life, Justine. A widow of one year, she married my dad and took on the task of raising a willful, unruly, and extremely lonely young girl. She saw me through my pre-teen and teen years, teaching me some valuable things along the way. Although a "stepmother" , she didn't live up to her "wicked" predecessors. An accomplished seamstress, she didn't teach me to sew, but provided me with all the tools necessary to learn: patterns, fabric, thread, and a little space of my own to use my mother's machine. Countless times I would be working on an outfit (I sewed all my own clothes through High School) and would go to her for advice on how to execute a certain complicated sewing procedure. Her inevitable reply, "Read your pattern", would infuriate me and I would stomp away mad, but determined to figure it out myself. To this day I know my ability to figure out just about any problem stems directly from her insistence that I "read my pattern".

I only had one grandma, Grandma Mabel, but she made up for the lack of grandma's in my life by making me and each and every one of her many grandchildren feel like they were her favorite. It has always been my goal to be like her for my children and grandchildren.

I married my handsome husband, Mark, in 1977 and became a mom in 1978. When they laid baby Jessica in my arms it was as if I had been waiting for her all my life. I was a young mom, barely 19, but I knew she and her two sisters, Kimberly and Alisa, and three brothers, Troy, Logan, and Ben, that would eventually follow were my life's calling.

Now Jessica has Maddie Kate, Ava Claire, Cohen and Jaxon. Kimberly has little Liam, and Alisa will be presenting us with baby Oakley in early July. My love and gratitude has multiplied, not divided, to include three awesome son-in-laws: Johnny, Tony, and Cody.

On this day that is set aside to thank mothers, I want to thank God for allowing me the privilege to be a mother, and for giving me two moms to help me on my journey to becoming the mom I believe God wanted me to be. No mom is perfect, but I'm thankful for God's grace and patience with me, and providing me with good role models.

Thank you to my mother, Milly, for giving me life and loving me until she went to heaven. Thank you, Justine, for taking me on, sticking with the job, and teaching me so many useful things. Thank you, Lord, for always being with me and blessing me with all of my family.

No cards today.

Just thankfulness.

Don't know about you, but my day REALLY Stampingrox!

See ya tomorrow!