Happy Birthday Mom

This was taken just three short years ago at Mom's 70th birthday. It's amazing what life can throw at you in three years and how much things can change
and some things don't
Fall will always remind me of Mom. She loved to look at the colors of the leaves changing. She loved the cooler temperatures that inspired more baking. She loved Halloween and dressing up. I think she even loved to tell her grand kids about what rotten teenagers their parents were and what Halloween trouble we had gotten ourselves in.
I had wanted to create a random act of kindness day as a way to remember her birthday so that people would get out and do something nice for others and may be take  their minds off missing her so much, but each time I went to "Create an Event" the words just wouldn't come. Sometimes the tears would, but words escaped me.
So life just went on, and there are a lot of birthdays in October. I bought one for Casey, then Chris, and Beth and I was on my third "Happy Birthday Mom" card before I realized what I was doing and put it back. I got my shit together and braced myself for today. I didn't really need facebook to remind me that it was her birthday, but I enjoyed seeing pictures of her- especially ones that showed her laughing and smiling. And just like always, watching her smile makes me smile.