Bringin it Back....without the Polyester

She ordered one.  Something I make all the time but not for this...not for Mother's Day.  I smiled when she ordered it because...well....it brought back all these memories for me.   Memories of my childhood that flashed in my mind like faded polaroid snapshots.  My grandmothers, my great-grandmother, my great aunts, my mother....all the women I knew got one.  They wore it proudly pinned to polyester.

I even used to get one...a baby one...from my Dad, that man that has always given me flowers because he knew one day I'd be a mama.  We wore them to church like badges of honour, which is what they were.

I asked her about it today when she picked it up...and she said she always does it every year for her Mama...and I just smiled because I loved it!

A Mother's Day corsage for her Mama.

And I told her when she picked it up that she inspired me...because she made me want to make one for my Mama.  A badge of honour...a memory relived...something fresh and beautiful to wear to remind her that she is truly a blessing in my life and she deserves to be honoured!

So I had to do it.  I had to make my own Mama one.

And I'm so excited to give it to her!

Thank you Corinne for inspiring me...you have a beautiful heart and I just can't wait to do your wedding flowers!

A Good Mama

I gotta say...that I LOVE my Mama.  She's not perfect.  But she's a good Mama and a sweet Mama, and a true blessing in my life!

One of the things that inspires me the most about my Mama is that she made choices in her teenage years to live a life different than how she was raised.  Although, I know my grandparents loved her, they were both alcoholics and life growing up for her and her brothers and sisters was harder than I can even imagine.  She didn't know what it was like to have the kind of mother that she became for us.  She chose love instead of resentment, and forgiveness instead of bitterness...and taught us to love too by her own example.  She's generous and gentle and kind to strangers.  She's patient, not controlling or demanding but she's also one of the strongest women I know.  She knows that there are some things that need to be said but not all things are meant to be said.  She loves.... big and wide and open.
She did not choose the same path that was set before her but made choices that changed the generations to come.  How can I not live everyday grateful for that?

My son picked this sign out for me at Creekside Abbotsford  a few years ago and gave it to me for Mother's Day.  I love it.

Us Mamas can get hard on ourselves sometimes so it is a good reminder to me that I can't be a perfect mother, and I can't raise perfect kids but I can give them my heart and do the best I can to be a good mama.

So thank you Mama once again and all you other mamas out there....blessings on you for all that you do for those around you and keep on being a good one.