Being Mimi

The week leading up to Mother's Day is very challenging for me.  On one hand, I relish being a mom and getting showered with all the homemade gifts the kids make each year.  On the other hand, there are constant reminders of the fact that I no longer have a mom.  It seems as if every writer who has lost his or her mom publishes a piece about how painful this time of year can be, and somehow I end up reading every single one.  This week, I came upon an article written by a woman who lost her mom and her struggle to cope with the fact that she and her mom shared many characteristics.  She came to the resolution that instead of mourning her mother each Mother's Day, she was going to celebrate the fact that her mom lives on IN her.  I like this one, I really like this one.

Mom and I were very alike, and very different.  We shared the same smile, the same voice and the same penchant to have a good time (I strive every day to have as much fun as Mimi!).  Mimi was an extremely patient driver; I have critical heart palpitations every time I get on the Parkway and engage in some nasty road rage in my own neighborhood.  Mimi was an excellent seamstress; I shamelessly have the dry cleaner sew on buttons and fix hems.  Mimi always put everyone else first; I like to claim the inside post and make sure no one gets in my way.  Mimi could turn the worst situation into a positive one, making "lemonade" out of whatever "lemons" were thrown her way; I like to take the lemons, squeeze the life out of them and complain the entire time.

I no longer have a mother, but that is just part of who I am.  Not a part that I relish or enjoy, but a part nonetheless.  I cannot change what God decided for me, but I guess I can change how I view his choice.  It's a crappy one, albeit, but apparently he had his reasons, or she.  Reality is reality, and reality sucks.  That said, I decided this Mother's Day to quietly celebrate the fact that Mom lives on in me, and Regan, and Jack, and Thomas . . .and her other nine grandchildren.  I decided that I should be a bit more like her (more patient, more kind, more forgiving) and maybe a bit less like me.  She was the example I had for being a mother and I think she did a fairly good job.

So this Mother's Day I am a mother and a daughter, and even though I don't have a mother here with me to celebrate, I am celebrating the fact that she is hear IN me.  I love you Mom!  Happy Mother's Day.

Lemon Squares

Crust:
2 cups flour
2 sticks butter
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

Topping:
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix crust ingredients together and press into a 9x13 pan.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Mix all other ingredients together and pour over crust.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar.