1. Her love for sewing and her patience to teach me, even when I pick difficult projects and get stressed over zippers and leave irons sitting facedown on dresses I just finished and we have to dye the whole dress a darker color to cover over the singe marks. Thank you.
2. Her propensity to experiment and dye fabric and quilt and make cards and also water color and print fabric and...basically everything artistic. Check her fiber arts out here ;)
3. Her incredible brain and the fact that she got her PhD a couple years after I was born and that she dove back into her research after her kiddos were old enough to drive themselves around. She inspires me.
4. Her patience with me calling home, dare I say it, probably two to three times a day as I walk between classes, receive disappointing test grades (the dreaded B-), and giggle over boys.
5. Her active walk with God, seeking His desires for her life and slowly letting me see that secret side of her.
6. Her inspiring pursuit of understanding and knowledge, be it hawk identification, natural dye sources, or magnetic resonance imaging as related to radiological imaging.
7. Her advice when it comes to dealing with conflict and frustrations, anxiety and school pressure. I will pass along her two recent pieces of advice when it comes to conflict management that have served me well: It's probably not about you, and you don't have to bring emotions into it. Sound advice.
8. Lastly, and not leastly, (and not really lastly, just the last one here, I've got to keep some secrets between her and me or people might try to come steal her) her servant's heart, packing me in and out of college every year, driving me to countless band concerts and dance classes and friends' houses, stirring the fizz out the Sprite when I'm sick, picking out fabrics with me for summer projects, stopping at garage sales with me even when she wants to get on the road, the list never ends.
Mom, you really are the best Mom. I hope you know that. I couldn't ask for more.
Love you,
Kels