Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Sweet Memories

Oh mommies all around the world know that there are those sweet sweet memories that we all hold dear to our hearts with our children. Who would have thought though that my sweet ShelbyLee has kept her very own memories of her moments with me!

Last night among the laughing and chiding each other while she made cookie brownies, and I played Sushi on her Ipod we did what we often do and just laughed! Oh ladies nothing is more precious to me than the ability I have to sit and just laugh with my daughter. Much to my surprise she apparently has a soft heart like her mama with the memories she keeps.

After stuffing ourselves with treats which were insanely yummy! We ended up on the floor in her room, sounds silly but well we are notorious for popping a squat on the floor in any and every room in our home. So it was during this sit session we were going through things in her room and as always this girl just floors me with her humor, sincerity, and utter awesomeness that she exudes! Of course there were the note books full of notes, and doodles from school, the funny memories she had from different classes with friends and you know teenage girl talk. I love being able to sit and laugh and trade stories with her its something that well needs to happen with mothers and daughters.

While going through all her little treasures I notice the cheetah duct tape that she made me a purse out of last summer, and she says "Oh ya I keep that because you were so excited that I made you something from duct tape." Then she pulls out the folded piece of paper that had all of the different types of chocolate's on it , and says "Ya that was the first time you bought us something fancy! We had just lived in our new apartment for 2 weeks and you surprised me with fancy chocolates, I was so excited mom! It meant a lot that you bought those because well it was a hard time for us" Ladies, I will say this I was stunned! You see I remember this purchase because I was working 3 jobs, and just picked up a waitressing job at a hotel restaurant in town and paid for those chocolates with a $10 and over $13 in ones! It was a big splurge for us, and yet after watching my oldest working so hard to be helpful and watching her siblings while I was working those 3 jobs she was so positive! So I decided that with the tips I made that day I was going to get us a treat. What was surprising is she recognized that this was a purchase that was frivolous and sooooo out of our immediate budget and cherished it as such.
She then pulled out a tube of lip gloss, and said "Ya and this was the lip gloss you got me when we went to Billings for a movie, and dinner out! It was sooo fun and you just had to work 1 job so we had time to go and do things on Fridays together"
Here is the thing. While going through the move, the divorce, the new home, bills etc I thought that through it all I was keeping things well as Normal as I could, truth be told it was the worst first 8 months of our lives. From not having money, having more expenses then ever, and trying to help four little ones to adjust from a stay at home mom to a full time single parent with 3 jobs to say it rocked their world is a gross understatement. It killed us all and well it means the world to me that she took those little steps ahead that we made and kept them close.
You see often we wear blinders during the storm and if you only look beside you there are those that love you right there.