Mom. What you don't know about her...

...is that she isn't just a mom, she's a saint.  Yes, you heard that right.  Ask anyone that knows her and they will pretty much tell ya the same thing.  I know, there is already a St. Judith but she is from Prussia and the 13th century, this St. Judith is from St. Louis and from the here and now.  

My mom lived through hell and back before I made my way into this world.  There wasn't anything she wouldn't do for her kids (two of my brothers at that time), including run from a horrid situation that could have gotten her killed.  But she did it anyway.  She would have given her life for her children at any moment in time.  Wait, she was a mom, she gave up having a life for us.

My mom loves to dance.  We were the only 4th graders that knew how to jitterbug.  We had a blast dancing down the green plastic runner in the living room with our mom.  She could have been a dancer, she's that good.  Instead, she worked at the appliance store or the cancer hospital to bring home the bacon.  At night...we danced.  Dancing with the Stars had nothing on us.

My mom loves baseball.  The St. Louis Cardinals have a life long, #1 fan in my mom.  Burn out catch in the front yard, ball games filled with stink bugs and moths in the evening and catchers helmets full of dirt made us into Cardinals fans.  She sacrificed her time, what precious little time she had, to pass on something that she grew to love from her own childhood.

My mom has tact and is always a lady.  Perm in the 3rd grade with my already very naturally curly hair, I begged for weeks and she let me go ahead even though she knew what was going to happen.  Think Michael Jackson from the Jackson 5.  It was that bad.  She cried with me, she told me I was beautiful and then she asked me how I wanted my hair cut.  Boy hair cut followed the perm incident and never once did she say I told you so.  Pilgrim shoes.  I owned them.  Well, they looked like Pilgrim shoes (think giant buckle) to my mom.  Never did she tell me there were ugly.  She said they were "nice Pilgrim shoes" and smiled her charming smile.  

My mom gives, even when there isn't anything to give.  Holiday dinners usually included at least 1 or 2 families in the church that didn't have family around (sometimes it was more like 4-6 families).  If there wasn't enough food, she could mysteriously whip up more.  Everyone always took food home.  To this day she is always giving something whether it is her time, her care, kindness, a listening shoulder, doesn't really matter, if someone needs something, she will find something to give.  

My  mom makes me smile.  She makes me laugh.  She makes me thankful.  She makes me proud.  Proud to be her daughter and proud to say that she is my mother.  So here's to you mom, St. Judith of St. Louis, I am so blessed to have a mother that loves me no matter how much you may want to shake me sometimes.  You truly are my hero.

My beautiful mother

With her charming smile

And her loving heart

Always bringing a smile to

      my face.  I love you.