Mommy.

My mother was born on March 21st 1965.

And this past Saturday was her 50th, holy crap 50th birthday!

My mom grew up in Denver and then they moved to Arvada.
She went to Arvada West and graduated in 1983.
She met my dad when they both were just 21.
She had had a couple of hard years prior to then and had just gotten out of a nasty break up when she met my dad at a bar.
A group of her guy friends were meeting a friend of theirs and they invited her along.
They met and it took my dad a month to ask her out.
Three months after that they were engaged.
About a year later they were married and here we are almost 28 years later.

I love my mom so much.
In so many ways we are similar and its kind of odd.

First thing that most people notice is that my mom and I have the same golden brown eyes.
Big brown eyes that can be a bit mischievous.
We share those and we are the only two in my immediate family that do.
My dad has green, Claire hazel and Owen blue.

We match.
The same brown eyes that run through the family.
My Mormor and my Grandma Janet both have these brown eyes and many of the women have these big brown eyes.
Along with a few guys but for the most part the women have the brown eyes.

My mom is 1 of many siblings.
She has 2 older sisters 2 younger sisters and 2 younger brothers.
So suffice to say that side is pretty packed.
Were pretty much the Swedish version of the family from My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

My mom is also a fighter.
She lost her dad when she was 20.
My dad never knew him but I think if he were still alive he would have been a great grandpa to have in all of our lives.
And 2 weeks before I went off to my first year of college at Fort Lewis she was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer.
That was a scary time and i'm truly thankful for all those that stood by me and helped me when I had rough days.
She fought it off with chemo and then had a double mastectomy with reconstruction.
She lost her hair and I remember her coming to my first ever band concert in her little hat.
I was so proud to have her there.

We've both struggled with accepting ourselves.
My sister Claire has always been comfortable in her skin.
Shes always had a path and has always loved herself.

Its hard for the brown eyed girls sometimes to love all of our quirks.
We both have bad days and take things personally.

I guessing when she was my age she was very similar to me with her relationships.
I fall too hard and I put my heart into everything.
Which makes me vulnerable.
And I get hurt a lot.

But the thing about getting hurt a lot is that you are able to pick yourself up and dust yourself off.
We both know that chocolate and ice cream are our vices.
We both cry a lot.
But that'ts just because we both have pent up emotions that need to be let out.

There's strength in knowing how you tick.
There's also strength in being able to walk through a storm.

We know how to do both.



My parents are a great pair.
They are both lucky to have each other.
Both of my parents have supported me through a lot.
Both have gone through countless band concerts.
My mom has always been the band mom.
She has outfitted my old high school marching band every year for the past 8 years.
She knows that closet like the back of her hand.
Everyone knows her and she helps out and every chance to help the band improve.

Another thing is that neither of us can say no easily.
We hate letting people down and we like to please.
That's at least my mentality.
I like to make things happen.
We are both the catalysts.
So we try our hardest to make everything happen.
Which makes for some crazy schedules
But we both like to be busy.
We like to help.
We like to love.
We are women that need things to do.
We believe and wish.
We encourage

We love so much more than we really should.
We are fighters.

And I am proud to be her daughter.
I am proud to have half of my DNA come from her.
I am proud to call her my mom.
Because she is the best.