Two years ago I wrote a post to honor and celebrate my dad on his 70^th birthday. Time has flown by and now I have the joy and privilege of doing the same for my mom. On this, my mother’s 70^th Birthday, I can’t think of a better way to show her (and all of you) just how much I love her.

Happy Birthday, Mama. So much of what I have and who I am is because of you. With all my heart, I love you and wish you the happiest of days…

70(ish) Reasons Why I Love You…

•  The way you look in lavender
• Your chicken and rice casserole
• The day you picked me up from school and took me on a spur of the moment date to see Sense and Sensibility at the movie theater
• Your perfect smile
• The way you magically keep getting more and more beautiful each and every year
• The “Mom” you’ve been to all of my friends
• Your southern accent and how it gets thicker whenever someone asks you where you’re from
• Phrases like: “Pushing little ducks in the water” and “Poor little Angeline sucking her cup”
• How as a kid (and a grown-up) I always felt homesick when you weren’t around
• Your sweet tea
• The chocolate cake you make every year for my birthday
• The way you’ve always made our house so beautiful, comfortable, and warm
• Everything you did to make my wedding day perfect
• “It’s fine, but it could be finer.”
• Decorating together for Christmas
• Out of all the moms in the world I get to call you mine
• The way you sound when you sing and how I can still hear your lull-la-byes
• The fact that Martha Stewart has nothing on you
• The way the house smells when you’re cooking in the kitchen
• Countless loads of laundry you’ve done for me and my family
• The way Tenley looks in your arms when you “rock & sing” or read books together
• All the fun things you do with Aletheia
• Your pumpkin-cream cheese muffins
• The way you can fix anything or in another words…nothing is truly broken until Mom can’t fix it
• All your down home Mississippi memories
• The loyalty you have for your sisters
• The way you love my dad, my sister, me, my children…and yes, even Chris
• How you’ve taught me to make a house a home
• Saturday nights watching Dallas when I was a kid
• How the name Mary Martha suites you so well
• Your love for books and reading
• Counting gifts with you
• All the graces you bring to my life
• The sound of your laughter
• Your ugly toes
• How even when you don’t understand some of the things I do, you love me and support me no matter what
• The way you’ve always made me feel safe, loved, secure, and happy
• Your obsession with recipes and the curious way you never end up following them
• The fact that you think “Rock n’ Roll” music is too “Razz-ma-tazz”
• Watching you nurse and care for Nana and what that taught me as a young girl
• The gingerbread houses you made when Melanie and I were children
• The comfort you bring whenever I’m sick
• Shopping together
• How we’ll never agree on Aldi’s, bleach, expired food, and at what point a load of laundry is actually dry
• Trips to Germany and all the traveling memories we’ve shared
• The way the blue in my little girls’ eyes is just like the blue in yours
• The way you drove me and Miranda to school every single morning so I wouldn’t have to ride the bus
• How I can always count on you for sewing projects (From wedding dresses to curtains and everything in between)
• How I always think of you when I watch Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins or The Sound of Music
• Watching Carolina Basketball together and the way you’ve been known to cuss when the refs make a bad call
• Your stubborn streak
• Your southern grace
• Your soft skin and rosy cheeks
• Sharing my home with you
• The way you have ALWAYS been there for me
• The way you are ALWAYS there for everyone
• The legacy of faith in God you have given to me, my sister, your grandchildren
• Your mother’s heart and how you’ve made me the mom I am today
• The way your perfume lingers in the air, in the car, in the house, and makes me miss you when you’re gone
• Visits to Charlotte and Virginia and how it was always so fun to spend time with you, scrapbooking, shopping, cooking, decorating…
• Sharing jewelry, scarves, and purses
• Your golden touch with all things crafty and/or food related
• How as a little girl I always, always wanted to be just like you when I grew up
• Having a stay-at-home mom and the example you’ve set in so many ways
• The way you used to braid my hair in one long French braid or George Washington curls on Sundays
• Your likes (traveling, a clean, quiet house, gardening, flowers, time with friends and family, molasses on biscuits, Lizz Curtis Higgs, UNC basketball, the color yellow) and dislikes (swimming, Duke, exercise, loud music, spots on your carpet, pets, your “pug” nose)
• The way you know the name of almost any flower
• Watching you relax in the middle of the afternoon or at the end of the day
• Do I really have to stop at 70??? This list could go on forever…
• The love and care you have always given my girls and the peace I feel when I know you’re with them
• The way you make ALL things beautiful

If you know and love my mom please feel free to leave a comment, memory, or birthday wish below and continue the love on her special day!