my awesome mama

My mom turns 62 today. It's just after midnight and I've snuck home to wake up here to eat breakfast with her in the morning. Here she poses with her favorite child Jules.
Pama and Matt and I joke about Jeff being her favorite, but the truth is...I am.

Some of the things I like best about her are these:
1. That when we were young and she would feel it necessary to punish us, the punishment wouldn't last too long. And it would usually end with her taking us for an ice cream out in Rosedale.

2. She cares for animals. Even the ones that kick her and throw her off. She seems to spend extra time with the ones who have issues.

3. She's not easy charmed. She somehow sees through whatever exterior (either rough or slick) people display, to the heart of what's really going on.

4. She's not that great of a driver (something I've learned in the past couple of weeks, that she comes by honestly), but has given us and her grandkids all some decent memories of 4x ing out at the river in the back of the pickup truck.

5. There's almost always some good dark chocolate stashed somewhere.

6. She doesn't take her age too seriously. I used to say she always seemed about 36 to me.
Lately I've been telling her that she doesn't look a day over 70, to which she replies, "Well Kimkid you better watch out, cause you're going to look exactly like me."

7. She's not romantic. I'm not sure why I like that but I do. She's the real deal.

8. She grows sweet peas for me every year, so I can come home and pick bunches of them.

9. She likes a good 'who dunnit'.

10. She gave me three of the most diverse siblings one could imagine, which means things are rarely boring.

Yeah. She's cool.