Happy Mother's Day, Lady.

In the history of human existence, there is a very wide spectrum of types of relationships. On this spectrum, I believe, there are none more complicated, ever-evolving and impassioned than that of a mother and daughter. I blame it on genes. For, no matter how much you try to escape it, we women become a lot like the women who mothered us. We are a forever mirror, for better or worse. For better, I am her compassion, her wittiness, her creativity and her sense of humor. I can hear her in my laugh. For worse, I am her stubborn streak, her clumsiness, her forgetfulness and her grudge holding. And all of this will be passed on to Isabel...hopefully, though, she'll be a bit more graceful. Still, she will be the next in the line of the Martinez women to take on the world.

My relationship with my Mom (aka Madre, Lady, Sophia, Crotchety) has had it's share of complexities, to be sure. We've had the highest of highs and lows so low no light penetrated for years. If we were being tested, I'd like to say we passed. Because now, somehow, by the grace of God, we are closer than ever. Looking back, this seems like a miracle. And indeed it was a little miracle that acted as the catalyst for our reconciliation - Isabel.

Something huge changed. I became a mother. And suddenly, I just got it. (Well, most of it. Sometimes you still makes me shake my head.) No one loves me like you do. No one ever will. And vice versa. We are Mother and Daughter. Two souls joined on this journey we call life. So on this Mother's Day, I want you to know a few things. (Cue Wind Beneath My Wings) I love you, of course but I am also proud to call you Mom. And although I'm very far away, you are always here, in my heart. (And in the dozens of photos scattered around my house.)

And just for smiles and giggles, here are a few of my favorite Mother/Daughter memories:

1. We both know grace has never really been our thing. So I, of course, have to include the time you fell off of the stair climber at LVAC. I don't think I've ever seen your legs move that fast or that I have ever laughed that hard in my life. Well, until the time you fell off the carousel horse in the mall in Ottawa. Can you please start being a little more careful in your advancing years?! :)

2. Almost 20 years ago, (WOW!!) you and I decided to leave Kentucky and embark on a new adventure out west. After a very swift decision, the car was packed and we were cruising down Route 66 on what was supposed to be a very uneventful, albeit very long, road trip. Sleep deprivation almost killed us (Saint Potty?) but we made it. And Vegas welcomed us with the hottest day I had ever experienced, 122 degrees. And we had no a/c in the car. Thank God we can laugh about it now, huh?

3. I decided to wake you up at the crack of dawn one morning to tell you, finally, that you were going to be a Grandmother. I remember you answered still in bed and had this tone in your voice like "why are you bothering me this early?!" I kept the conversation light and started asking you when you were going to come visit. Maybe July? You asked why. I said, "Because I'm due on July 29." This may be the first time I've ever heard you speechless. After a long pause, you finally said a very small and teary voice, "really?" (It chokes me up still to think about it!) This was immediately followed by you violently shaking Eddie awake, "VANESSA'S PREGNANT!!!!" And the rest is history, Mimi.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Too much gorgeous for one photo. I mean, come on!!!