And then some...

So much has happened since my last update...an amazing military ball, sad farewells to freshman friends, two-day road-trips to Idaho and back, lifeguard training, family slave labor, and the list goes on, but that's not really what I wanted to say. I know I am a week late and probably more than a dollar short, but here is what I want the record to show about my mom.

All throughout childhood and even occasionally now, I have horrible night terrors where I wake up and cry for hours, then sneak down the hall to my parents room to crack the door and make sure my dream wasn't real, that my parents are still here and, hopefully, breathing (not hard to confirm with my father, he sounds like a logging crew). As I have try to cope with these scenarios, realizing that the day may one day come, although hopefully far in the future, I play out my response in my head.

Should anything ever happen to my mother, I would be inconsolable, because the world would have lost the greatest woman to ever grace it. The saddest part, however, is that people would scarce realize what a priceless treasure had been lost. My only consolation is knowing that, should I live in her image, as I should, I can be with my mother forever.

My Mother:
...the woman who drove me to North Las Vegas and back every Wednesday night for a year and a half during rush hour traffic
...the woman who gives more love and joy to the people around her than anyone to walk the Earth
...the woman who works at a job where she is scarcely underappreciated but entirely devoted to those who often refuse to acknowledge her overwhelming contributions
...the woman who pretends to like my crazy choice in movies, watching them with me when no one else will
...the woman who listens to my late night and all-hour rants, listening patiently till I figure out the answer myself
...the woman who practices the organ with time she doesn't have so that she can play on holidays when no one else wants to
...the woman who changed her entire life to help me train for a triathlon and did it better than I did
...the woman who never sits down, never says no, never takes a break, never stops serving selflessly
...the most amazing woman to ever grace the face of the planet, and leave her own invisible mark on every soul she contacts

My mother is the most amazing woman I know and likely, the most amazing woman I will ever know. Would I have one wish, it would be to mirror her influence in my life, and be as amazing a woman, wife and mother as she is. Every good thing I am or that I will ever be will be because of the most selfless, loving, simply amazing person I have ever know, a woman I get to spend forever knowing...my mother.