It's a lovely 70 degrees with sunshine and enough humidity to make you comfortable. The birds are chirping and there is even a family in the birdhouse that I took from my great grandmother's home. Basically, it is a perfect quiet Saturday morning...although Leonard doesn't seem too happy that I'm not letting him outside (I'm not sure what he would do and since he doesn't have front claws or a collar). Ok, I gave in and let him explore:
Last weekend I had the extraordinary pleasure of going home for the first time since Christmas. Again, this was only made possible by the kindness of my friend and coworker, Rachel, who allowed me to use her points to fly home. The idea was to spend Mother's Day weekend & my mom's birthday (Monday, May 13th) with her, and it was fabulous. Not only was I able to see my mom, but both of my sisters (and Morgan's husband), my grandmother, and my cousin (and her boyfriend) also celebrated Mother's Day with us.
I arrived Friday night, just in time to go grocery shopping for the weekend's meals. It's funny that I looked forward to pushing a cart around Walmart with my mom, but the truth is that every time I go to the store and see mother-daughter pairs, I miss mine. There's something to be said about doing everyday seemingly monotonous things with the people that you love.
Saturday brought a group outing to Scarborough Faire, the Dallas Renaissance Festival that I grew up attending every year with my family. Since I hadn't been there in about 13 years, I didn't dress up in the outfit I used as a child. Once I got there I realized there really was no need to dress up, as all of the other attendees had done enough costuming for the rest of us. I enjoyed seeing my family pick different activities to attend and booths to visit, and I especially liked when we all tried our hand at archery and I hit a bulls-eye! It was fun to explore a place that I only had memories of as a child and to find it just as imaginative and enchanting (if not weird) as I remembered it to be.
Seesters :) Morgan got that beautiful headpiece as her souvenir
Seester and bro-in-law at archery
Archery was Aubree's idea. She also got a headband as her souvenir
I thought this little elephant fountain was cute
Just one of the many strange booth craft items
You can call me Catniss ;)
On Sunday, Mom and I went to church and I got to see some of my most favorite people in the world. It was also cool to see how the church has undergone a recent face-lift!
The weather that day was absolutely perfect, so I requested that we all go on a picnic at the local park for dinner. We made sandwiches and brought along some balls and games to play. Texas doesn't often have days that are a perfect mix of warm and sunny without being sweltering hot, so I'm glad I was able to visit on one of those days and get my family outside.
My cousin Amanda and I spent part of the afternoon browsing some of the photo albums that we have at the house. Here are just a few treasures that we found (I just used my iPhone to take pictures of these, so they aren't great quality).
I LOVE this one for some reason...
All 4 generations
Pregnant with Morgan!
Happy cousins!
Monday was Mom's birthday, and we decided we would take it easy and hang out together doing whatever we felt like. You see, quality one-on-one time with my mom just doesn't happen very often. It was tough to find that time once I moved to college, as when I came home I spent time equally with her, my dad, my sisters, and Darren's family. Once I moved to St. Louis, our opportunities narrowed even further, making it nearly impossible to get more than 5 minutes together on the rare occasion that we were in the same state.
I adore my mother, I think that's pretty obvious. She is not only my best friend and role model, but she is my confidant, my encourager, and my strength. I took her physical appearance when I came into this world, but also her mind and her brain, her handwriting, her insecurities, her passions. Yes, we are different in a lot of ways, but we are of the same heart.
It was wonderful to walk around Firewheel mall, aimlessly wandering in and out of stores and talking. We stopped for lunch to get one of her favorite salads and celebrated her birthday with a free ice cream sundae. Later that evening, she took me to the airport and I cried while saying goodbye for the first time in years. There truly is no relationship quite like that of mother and daughter, and I know just how lucky I am to have what I do.
Happy birthday, Mom!
That was last weekend, and since then I have one more bit of news that is completely unrelated... I started this job in July of 2011 and began my 3 year internship with St. Jude Medical (read one of the earliest posts for an explanation). As of this week, I have not only completed my training on the 3D mapping software for ablations, but I have been officially promoted out of the program. I'm not sure yet what this will mean for my contract, but I do know that I am no longer an "intern"! Can I get a WHOOP?!!!
Until next time,
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