Happy Mothers Day

On one of my first blogs, I wrote about memorable movie moms.  And to commemorate Mothers Day, I decided to write about another memorable mom.  She may not be known world wide, but she's a super star in my eyes.  Yes, I am talking about my mom.  One of the strongest women I know, she still to this day has me guessing how she was able to raise us brats and not go (completely) insane ;-) As I try to unravel this mystery, I am brought back to great memories of when it was just us kids and the head honcho, Mom.  Although growing up was a bit hard to do, especially when you're forced to do it so quickly like my older sister and I were, there were still some great things to think back on.  Some of my best/hardest memories for me to think back on was living in Orange on Fashion Park Ave.

We didn't have much money growing up.  In fact, that's an understatement. But one of the reasons why, and I am very greatful for, is because my mom wanted us to grow up in the nice part of town.  This, unfortunately, came with a big monthly price tag.  Rent was super high back then in the part of Orange I spent most of my childhood.  In fact, I'm sure that if Vince and I were to try to move back to the same exact spot (never happening) the place would easily be in the $1400s right now.  But my mom insisted that we live there because it was one of the nicer areas.  I'm sure she could have saved three to four hundred dollars a month if we grew up in the bad parts of Santa Ana, but she didn't want us surrounded by gangs or violence.  I loved growing up on Fashion Park Ave.  Yes, some of the hardest memories for me, but also great ones!  My Aunt Yollie lived next to us, so we always had other kids to play with.  Not to mention the ones I made when I was 6 and had up until I was 17.  My little sister Kat has a vague memory of this place.  She was only 2 or 3 when we moved there but did make a great friend.  And although we did make childhood friendships there, we also saw our mom pick herself up every morning and give what she could of herself to us.  Although I had great memories here, I know those years were the most try of times for my mom.  On the verge of an over due divorce and pregnant with our lovable baby sister, Sally, I can remeber being an 8 year old wondering how she was able to peel herself from the fragile bed every morning and brush my hair.  I didn't know what depression was at 8 years old, but I was introduced to it.  And I have to believe that she didn't want my sister and I to see her that way, but did the best she could with what little energy she had.  And at 9, shortly after Sally was born, we left the city of Orange and embarked on a new journey.

When I was ten, my mom met my dad (I'll elaborate on their story in a different blog) and things very slowly but surely got better.  As a young girl, it's very important to have a strong female role model in your life.  And thankfully I had my mom.  When she met my dad things got better.  Maybe not so much money wise, but happiness, hope, and love.  At ten I was able to take the traits that my mom was showing me (although I'm not sure she even knew she was) and use them going into my adolesence years.  She carried herself much higher now.  And I think a lot of it had to do with her divorcing my father.  She no longer had to peel herself out of bed, but rather was making us get up by singing Disney songs.  It was quit horrible waking up at 6:00 am to a mother singing out loud, but a refreshing memory; because now when I look back, she was trying to get us in the same mood she was in at the time.  No one wants to wake up early, but if we must, it may as well be in a chipper mood.  And as the years went on, things progressively got better.

Now that we're all grown up (and I use this term loosely) my mom has a new house (that she chooses to share with my pop, haha) and a new beautiful grandson, I like to reflect back and think about all we've been through as a family and how we were able to get through them.  Had it not been for this wonderful lady that we call mom showing us every step we needed to take even at times she herself was confused about life, who knows where we would have ended up.  And although I don't like to think about where we might be without the strength of this one woman pushing and fighting for us,  I still think about it once in a while and thank god for giving us such a strong, vivacious, and caring mother, for whom without, we'd still be scratching our heads wondering how in the he'll we got on this earth. 
I love you Mom!  Happy Mothers Day!!