I love my mom.

Location: Desk
Listening to: CBS Sunday Morning
Days til Graduation: 30? 29? Somewhere in that ballpark.

Today is Mother's Day. There are a lot of blogs already honoring mothers and motherhood and mothering. But I want to honor my mother. Because, the thing is, the only two other people who could do that...don't have blogs. And live at least two hours away at their respective colleges. So, because I'm still under the same roof as her and see her on a fairly daily basis, this is for my mommy.

I'm almost positive I've never told my mom I've hated her. She and I don't always get along (in fact, I get frusterated with her quite frequently for babying me and hovering over aspects of my life that have nothing to do with her). But in spite of all of that, I still love her and respect her. She's kind of my hero.

Nearly every day at school, at least one of my friends will sit around complaining that their mom is "such a BITCH!" in near tears. Because their mom fairly punished them for something they did wrong or forgot about something they had planned to do together or had not had enough money to give them for one thing or another. Mostly, for all of these trivial things that aren't entirely their mother's fault, that they just blow waaaayyy out of proportion. One time, I went up to a friend's cabin with her and her parents, and she got in a huge fight with her mom because the woman who was pretty much her mom's mother figure was also up there, so her mom wanted to have dinner there (because the woman was throwing a party and she lives a state or two away, so they never got to see each other) instead of taking us out for a fish fry.

I never got things like that.

My mother is a superhero. When I was a baby, she worked at a shelter for women and children who had been in abusive relationships and had left their husbands/boyfriends but either needed protection or somewhere to stay until they could find somewhere on their own.

When I was a toddler, she started her own video production business. She now makes training videos for businesses and things like that. But that's not the cool part. The cool part is that she also makes drug-awareness videos. She makes movies about the dangers of specific drugs (like meth and ecstasy) for school health programs and rehab centers and for the state health department. She also made a documentary about drug endangered children -- the kids of meth-addicted parents who pretty much have to grow up on their own, and are oftentimes forced into pretty nasty situations.

The fact that she does these things makes her seem so strong to me. The drug endangered children video was depressing. Things like that don't have a happy ending. But my mom talked to so many people and got to know so many families going through that kind of ordeal and felt for so many children, but instead of letting it upset her, it just made her show her love for us even more.

I love my mom. I'm going to go to church with her now. Don't forget to tell your mom's how much you appreciate them, today!

(I'll update on my White Chocolate situation tonight after he leaves. Wish me luck!)