Mom

How could I have written all those posts about life in Fallbrook and not mentioned my mom? Well, I better, because if anyone deserves props for those long weeks, it's her.  She was the one who had to put up with the 4 of us invading her space, her quiet, her privacy, her clean floors and her fridge.  She did mountains of laundry.  She made lots of cheese and crackers.  She took care of us when we were sick.  And, if she had any energy left at the end of the day, she made yummy dinners for her and I to eat in peace after the kids went to bed.  

Many nights though, we were both so tired we'd both fall asleep on the couch waiting for our husbands to call from Long Beach and tell us how soon, or not soon, they'd be done.

Oh yeah, and did I mention she had to live without her husband for weeks on end?  And have him be up at my house doing projects when she has a honey do list of her own that is rather lengthy.  That she held William and tickled him when he missed his Daddy so much.  That she listened to James and his million and 1 "do you know what, Granny?" And that she offered to let William or Lilly sleep with her on those long nights when both of them were waking up over and over and I thought I might die from fatigue.  Did I mention that?  

One day, James, Lilly and I were all sick.  I was laying on the couch, almost unable to move and holding Lilly to keep her from crying. James was on the floor.  William had completely covered the living room with toilet paper.  And she was going to the library to get movies for James to watch, to the store to get popsicles for me, and not saying a word about the chaos that my family had created in her home. 

 

I said it then, and I'll say it again.  Mom, you are a saint.  

Thanks for taking care of us.  Still.  You are the best.