The Original Green Mom

My mom has no fingernails. I mean, she has fingernails, but she doesn't have long, manicured nails with fresh paint on them every week. My mom's hands seem to be too busy for that - she likes to get down in the dirt.

Many of the green things that grow around my house are there because of my mom. The lungwort, the tulips, the peony tree. When she visits she hangs out the towels on the line and folds them up too.

The food that she cooks comes from fresh ingredients - her famous meatballs (you may have met a few of them on the people mover at Dulles airport...long story), her lasagna, even her simple spaghetti ("I loved spaghetti." will be carved on her gravestone, I'm sure.), her yummy green salads.

My mother is addicted to many things: clothes shoppping for her grandchildren, Mallomars, hot fudge sundaes, walks to the corner store to pick up the paper, the internet, lunches with her friend at Legal Seafood, Keri hand lotion, cute shoes, movies with my Dad, going up to the shore, Walden Pond, a small island in Maine, anything "Made in Italy", snorkeling, handbags, tall glasses of water, making pancakes, cream cheese icing, and cheap flights on Jet Blue.

When I was waiting for my children to be born she called me every day, came and fed me, cheered me up when I was down, and best of all answered the phone when I called to tell her that her grandson was finally here. She'll even change a diaper.

If I were there with you today, Mom, we'd go and get manicures together. Not because we need them, but because even hard working hands need a little TLC every once and a while. Thank you for giving me the original "gift of green" and to every mother today I say to you what my Mom always says to me: "Treat yourself good."

I love you, Mom. Have a great day!