Happy Birthday, Mom!

It was yesterday, and no, I did not forget. I never forget. My brother, however, is just nearly the opposite. Good thing he remembered this year.

She replied to my happy birthday text with this:

"...I think I will enjoy my birthday this year. Thanks to the Lord and my family. I'm so proud of my children. Your papa and I are so blessed."

Aww...

I had to stop myself from telling her that she had no reason to be proud of me, having thrown to the gutter my dreams of becoming a doctor and settling for the life of an ordinary employee, taking too sweet my time to finish my MBA, marrying young, and essentially throwing caution to the wind by changing my marital status with one swift kick. But then again, a mother's love is unfathomable.

She had me surrounded with books at a young age, and I am doing the same for my darling LP. She had to pull some strings to get me into a good school, because I purposely messed up the entrance exam for Kindergarten. (By purposely, I meant I thought it would be fun to just mark all A's. I had no idea there were consequences invloved. Hey, I was five.) There were countless times I had to endure her wrath because I did poorly in math. In hindsight, maybe I should've gotten more of it, I'd probably have turned out a more competent and accomplished adult.

Happy birhday, Mama! This entry's for you. We love you so much!

Taken last year. That's my giant brother ten years my junior, Mama, and myself. No, that's not an elemental being in the corner of the picture. That's LP, enjoying herself by the water, much too engrossed with her own thoughts to join the photo op.