At Christmas at my mom's house my daughter snapped this photo of my mom after the following conversation:

Abigail: "Grandmama, I have been looking at all these old pictures of you and you stopped smiling when you had kids"

MY Mom:  "I did not"

Abigail then flipped though the photo album and said

before - smiling

before - smiling

after- not

after- not

My mom laughed so now we have a after kids smiling photo :)

This is one of those after not smiling ones.

This one on the other hand was a before. In fact that chipmunk is what my Daddy gave my mommy for her 16th birthday.  He is battered and faded, but still on my mom and dad's bed ever single day.

Yup, here's yet another before the kids when she's all smiles.

My mom is my best friend.  We talk every single day.  She actually has a friend who get irritated when I call her if they are together who doesn't understand that we talk every day.

My mom taught me to be strong and caring.  She took me to church and read me Bible stories.  She taught me to read before I started school.  I remember how fun it was to learn to tell time because my mom made it such fun.

My mom used to sew all my clothes and she would make me and my baby dolls matching clothes and then later when I discovered Barbie she also make me hundreds and hundreds of Barbie outfits.  I had a Besty Ross Barbie because my mom made her clothes and sewed a tiny little flag for a school project once. 

My mom did so much for me, but she also worked outside the home most of my childhood.  After I was one she went back to work, then she stayed home for about a year when I was 5 and my brother was born. 

When my mom was working it was my Grandmother who kept me.  And in looking back through all my family albums it's easy to see where my mom got her good looks.  And my 91 year old Grandmother is still a wise lady that I love to spend time with.

This was my Grandmother when she was 17.

This is me, my daughter, my mom and my Grandmother last Christmas. 

These women who raised me, who shaped my life also have helped shape the life of my young daughter Abigail and hopefully some day she'll have a daughter of her own and these beautiful women from my past will help shape her life too.

I'm just going to have to remember keep smiling when someone gets a camera out.

Happy Mother's Day.