One Mother Finally Looses It!

After 52 years of motherhood, this woman surrendered completely to her nickname of "Crazy Jane". She was found early this a.m. collecting squirrels that had been hit by cars from the streets and chopping off their tails. When asked by the local police to put the knife down, she exclaimed, "I can't! I have to make all my grandkids 'Daniel Boone' caps for Christmas!"

Crazy Jane is now residing at the Tranquility Fruit Farm pending further evaluation.

Seriously, though, this is my beautiful mother, Jane.

Mom was kind enough to humor me when she visited me in April by allowing me to take these "Nick Nolte" pictures. Which is pretty much my point for this blog today.

Mom has always had the knack of making me laugh and making things seem so special. I love to tell the "Crazy Jane" stories because they show how creative and funny she is. When I talk about my mom to others, I always smile. I hope that Mom realizes how much I love her and how proud I am of her. Not everyone has the gift to make others feel so special and so loved.

One of my favorite "Crazy Jane" stories is the one about the pistachios. I had gone down to visit mom and arrived at her house as she was just coming home from the grocery store. I helped her haul in the groceries and was helping her put them away when I came across a plastic bag of pistachios. They were the kind that you scoop out of the barrel at the grocery store and buy by the lb. I asked Mom if I could have some (as I love pistachios) and she told me to help myself. So I popped a couple in my mouth and noticed that they didn't have much flavor and were kind of chewy. I mentioned this to Mom and she exclaimed, "Well, dammit! I hope I didn't get the ones that that little girl was sucking on and spitting back in the barrel!!!" I immediately started gagging and spitting them out in the trash can. I was in total disbelief and asked Mom why she would even think about buying them after seeing what the little girl was doing. Mom said, "Well, they were on sale and I thought I mixed them up enough so the bad ones would go to the bottom of the barrel!" Needless to say, pistachios no longer rank at the top of my favorite's list.

Mom has always been one of my touchstones in life. She has not always had it easy and somehow managed to single-handily raise four girls. I know that I, for one, was a handful to raise. Poor woman. She had four girls in five years. I, being the youngest of the four pretty much got away with murder as by the time I got to my teens, she was plum tuckered out from surviving the first 3 girls' teens!

So my Mom has served many purposes in my life. She has been an example of a strong woman who can survive anything. She has taught me compassion and unconditional love. She has shown me that laughter is always the best medicine. She has hurt my feelings when no one else would. AND she has always been my friend. She is indescribably special.

I think all of us could use a little "Crazy Jane" in ourselves. I know that I have inherited a lot of Mom's traits, and proudly recognize this about myself.

So....Happy Mother's Day Mom! And happy Mother's day to all the women in my life who have also been such great examples!

Today's Motherly Wisdom: Never put Minute Rice in a crockpot.