Morgan Kate

There are so many things I love about my mom. I love her independence and strength. I love her faith and her passion for God. I love her beauty and that she passed along her long legs. Thank you genetics. I love her hugs and kisses. I love the example she sets with her marriage to my dad. I love the way she loves and cares for her grandchildren. I love how she gets down on the floor to play with them and chase them. I love that she knows how to have a good time. I love her cooking. I love her loyalty to friends and family. The list could go on and on. 


I think one of the things I love the most about my mom is the way she loves us. Specifically, me and my brothers.


Her love is and always has been, unconditional and without any hidden agenda. She loves us on our good days and our not-so good days. She loves us when we are kind and when we aren't so kind. She loves us when we make her proud and when we disappoint her. And believe me, we have disappointed her and on more than one ocassion. Like the time I left an open bottle of fingernail polish on her brand new coffee table (seriously brand new, like maybe two days old) or cut class my freshman year of high school and no one could find me. Or when Owens, age ten, confessed, on Mother's Day, that he had tried his first cigarette. Or when Kyle is disrespectful or lies and says he's going to do one thing and then either doesn't or completely does something different. And, unfortunately, he does that quite a bit. The list could go on and on and these things are really just scratching the surface. We've all put my mom through some "doozies". We are by far the most imperfect children ever. All three of us have done some pretty stupid and disappointing things along the way. Although, I should note that Owens is probably the least imperfect. He's got a pretty clean track record. Well, sort of. 


In all of my thirty-one years, regardless of what I have or haven't done, I have always known that my mom loved me and would continue to love me. Her love is constant, even when we aren't the most lovable human beings. Sounds pretty simple, right? I mean she's our mom, she's supposed to love us. And I guess most moms do love their children, regardless of the things they do, or at least I hope they do. But I think the part that resonates with me the most is that we always know how much she loves us. There was and never is a day or an hour or even a minute where I question her love. Even when I did the most disappointing things, I knew she still loved me. Even when we didn't give her the respect or love we should have given, she still loved us. And she still loves us.

I think of all the things my mom has taught me or given me, and she's taught and given me quite a lot that I will always take with me, I want more than anything to love my own child/children the way she has loved me and my brothers. And not only love them that way, but for them to know I love them that way, the way I always knew. Don't get me wrong, I love Morgan Kate wholeheartedly and unconditionally now, but let's face it, she's been pretty perfect so far. No smarting off, no cutting class, no smoking cigarettes, no boozing it up, none of those things. However, I know that one day, probably all too soon, she may decide to engage in such behaviors and I just want her to know, just like I always did, that I still love her just the same. And I always will.


I love you mom. Thank you for always loving me. And for showing me how to love.