I searched in two stores for the appropriate card. There was no right one; either the picture was wrong or the words were a bit off. I decided to write my own “Happy Mother’s Day” card.

We had a contest in work for the best essay on “our mother”. I didn’t enter the contest because I knew there were people who would write about how they had the best mother because their mom was a single mom that worked 6 jobs to keep the 12 kids all together and similar stories. I do not mean to put them down but I feel they have an unfair advantage. Judges always side with the underdog.

My mom was no other people’s toilet scrubber. She had the “luxury” of being a stay at home mom. She stayed at home with 3 kids in a tiny house on a small street in South Philadelphia. Our house, at times, felt tight. Like when we had 40 people squeezed in there for a party or when she let me and my boyfriend invite all our friends, including one who was a D.J. with all his equipment, to cook mussels and crabs and barbacue and dance in our small yard while she disappeared to our next door neighbors to get out of our way. Our house was little but always felt big. It always felt special. We had clean, starched, perfect curtains and a gleaming tiny bathroom. We had all kinds of food and 15 different homemade cookies at Christmas time. We had hours of chatting over coffee with friends, neighbors, aunts and cousins. We had the thrill of something new when we rearranged the furniture. I was allowed the freedom to storm out of my room and carry my furniture to the basement and make a room for myself down there without so much as a question about it all. I had a brother and a sister and one television with no remote. We had to share and agree on what show to watch and if my father was home it was usually MASH, TAXI or the nature shows. Mom usually let us watch whatever we wanted to watch. I was allowed to take my dinner into the living room some nights and eat it on a T.V. tray just so I could catch my favorite show on channel 29 at 7 pm: That Girl. My mom seemed to understand the deep attachment I had to my show.

When my mom had “club night”, we had to stay upstairs but were allowed to spy from the top step and then complain the next day about how we wanted to have celery and cream cheese canapés and high balls, too. My mom would just laugh at us.

No my mom didn’t work 4 jobs outside our home. She just kept 3 kids and a husband happy and feeling loved and lucky. She never ever made us feel like we didn’t have things. We never knew if they didn’t have the money for something, or when they were feeling down and out. We were kept from knowing the bad and uneasiness of life. We were protected and cherished and worried about. We were not coddled either. When it came time for us to learn how to clean or cook or ride a bike or drive we were given the time and space and support. My mom did not serve us or wait on us until we were 40. We were expected to do things for ourselves and be responsible and felt the pride of our accomplishments. Our self esteem and general happiness grew.

My mom did everything well. I do not remember her ever doing anything half way, sloppy, or bad. She tried her best and did whatever was right. We had to go to school and church and work. We were expected to be home for dinner and help with the dishes (well, not Lorraine!).

My mom also allowed us some adventures. We went to the shore and the mountains. We slept over our grandparent’s and aunt’s houses. We went to the mall and the mart. We spent many full days in the kitchen making cookies or stromboli’s and pizza or crabs and many full days shopping with aunts and cousins. My mom took the time to bring us to the local public pool and sat with friends and family talking, picnicking and allowing us to just be together. Every single Saturday we packed the car with our pajamas and South Philadelphia goodies like fresh mozzarella from Mancuso’s and bread from Lanci’s and headed over the bridge to my grandmother’s in Pennsauken. We spent the whole day there from morning until late night with the whole family. Sometimes we stayed overnight.

I am sure she could have worked while we were young. Maybe she’d have been better dressed or housed. Maybe our car would have always been new. Maybe we’d have a house at the shore instead of a hotel room or rented apartment. Maybe we’d have a cleaning lady or take out. Maybe we’d have dancing lessons or music lessons. Maybe she would have had those long Lucite nails and toe nails with the white strip across the top.

Maybe we’d have less of a mom, less of a great childhood, less togetherness.

This is the reason I did not enter the “my mom” contest at work. My mom was no martyr, no scrub woman, no company President. She was just the best mom I could have had and I only know that because I have no complaints, no sorrows to woe, no bad memories. I know it because I have a happy dad, brother and sister. I know it because I know it.

Happy Mother’s Day mom…I love you.

How can it be that my two youngest children, who I carried for nine whole months and loved before seeing, and hugged and snuggled and fed and bathed and clothed gave me up in an instant?!

One little talk about diets and they thought themselves spies. Traitors. Sons should side with the mom, right? Especially when the mom is the one that provides most of the snacks. Ok...so I am not really on a diet. I just pretend. But I am exercising like an obsessed laboratory animal. And that is not really working! But they said I ate donuts and they were muffins! And they said I had ice cream sundaes..I mean really, it was only one and I didn't ask for the whipped cream and the cherry only anything chocolate they had behind that high glass window. I couldn't see anything.

So now what? I can't trust the older two either. And my husband has that invisible wagging finger in my face. I guess I'll have to find a real, concrete empty closet with lots of room and a peephole. I wonder if my dog can be trusted? Well, if I have all the snacks, I am sure she'll protect me. Unlike the traitors I live with!

If I had to chose between sunshine and rain, I'd pick rain. I would. I love it.

After days of promises, after weeks of waiting flowers and tree roots and grasses, after the sun dried everything to a fine dust, the streaming, flowing, gushing water poured from the skies as clapping thunder cheered in the background while the sky's jagged fireworks lit up the glistening darkness.

How can we truly enjoy sunshine without rain? How can anyone refuse to admit the freshness and nourishment it brings?

Just as in life. Pleasures and luxuries are more enjoyable if we are not too indulgent, if they come on the tails of hard work; earnings.

So stop your moaning about the rain and realize it is a necessity. Like the beginning of love or the crest of companionship or the savageness of desire; rain is organic. It fills an ancient and deep rooted need. Maybe, my degree of awe is a bit of an infatuation.

Sunshine, a luxury, is the byproduct.

Can I live with rain forever and never enjoy the sunshine? Unfortunately, exhilaration doesn't last forever. Fortunately, real true goodness and love are offspring of pure essentials.

I borrowed this from Springmoon for all my readers to see:

Reasonable man
adapts himself to the world around him.

Unreasonable man
expects the world to adapt to him.

Therefore all progresses are made by
unreasonable men.

- George Bernard Shaw -

Surprising High Fiber Foods:

avocados ( 12 grams per serving)
raspberries (8 grams)
blackberries (8 grams)
apples (3 grams)
mangoes (4 grams)
acorn squash (8 grams)
artichokes (6 grams)
sweet potatoes (5 grams)

Did you know if you are diabetic sweet potatoes are better for you than regular potatoes?

You should have 5 x as much potassium in your diet than sodium.
High potassium foods include: bananas, apricots, avocados, cantaloupe, figs, seedless raisins, beans, potatoes, winter squash, unsalted tomato sauce.

Calcium supplements
should be taken in two to three doses at meal times...about 500mg each meal. More than that will not be absorbed.
also for calcium to work you must do weight bearing exercises: weight training, yoga, walking, running, and gardening all are appropriate weight bearing exercises to do.

Bee Stings:
gently scrap the stinger away with a credit card, moisten an Alka Seltzer tablet slightly and apply it to sting when it starts to fizz (baking soda in it reduces swelling and aspirin reduces pain and the fizzing helps it to be absorbed)

splinter help:
cut a small piece of fresh onion and place it on the padded part of a bandaide...put over splinter..sleep with it, by morning the splinter will be at the surface making it easier to remove with a tweezer (I have never tried this one)

talking on a cell phone before bed disturbs sleep

vitamin C tablets help unclog arteries

Astragalus Root Herb helps fight cold viruses and bacterial infections: powerful immune booster that increases your body's production of T-cells, macrophages and natural killer cells. This also helps Cancer patients.

DO you interrupt conversations? yes? then you are at higher risk for heart attack...practice NOT interrupting and patience and this will decrease your risk.

Osteoarthritis Permanent Cure:
prolotherapy: rebuilds worn-out cartilage, ligaments and even tondons...a doctor injects an irritant solution into the affected joint triggering a healing response called a sterile inflammation...blood rushes to the area, delivering nutrient and oxygen, then fibroblasts make their way to the area, blood vessels start to grow, collagen begins to form and pain dissipates. New tissue grows.

If you take Actos for diabetes be careful...side effects are bad. If you also take medication for congestive heart failure and take Actos you should ask your doctor to change the Actos to a different medication.

If you are diabetic keep your Blood Sugar between 80-120. Higher than that and the extra sugar lies in your system/in your blood and eats away at your nerves, eyes, kidneys just like it does on your teeth and makes holes or cavities and does major damage.
The best time to check your blood sugar is in the morning before eating or drinking or taking your medications or 2 hours after a meal. Hemoglobin A1C done at the doctor's office (not a finger stick) is more accurate.
Best diet for people with diabetes or pre diabetes is high protein,low carbohydrate.

Also 2 tsp a day of cinnamon helps lower blood sugar and reduce need for medication. Sprinkle on toast (whole grain), oatmeal, cereal, apples, apple sauce. It is even good on cheesecake. lol