Random thoughts on my parents

So Greg is in bed and that leaves me to my thoughts, scary!! I have been thinking about how life changes, and mostly how people in your life change. My mom and mom 2 (mother-in-law) had the opportunity this last week to spend sometime together without us (scary)! Apparently my mom mentioned to Shari that Shari knows me better than my mom knows Greg. That's what triggered all of this. I have decided to write a bit about the members of my family and my thoughts on them, along with random "friends" over the course of time. These could be really long posts!!

Mom- I am so grateful for you. You are always just a phone call away and I love to call you even if I have nothing to say. I have grown to appreciate you more as the time goes on, and truthfully as I have become a mother myself. I now am starting to realize all that you did for us and how ungrateful I was at the time. I can only imagine though how hard it was to be a single parent raising 4 kids and trying to make ends meet. Greg and I have a hard enough time meeting all the needs, and some of the wants, and he makes good money and we only have 2 1/2 mouths to feed, not 5. I now realize how strong of a woman you are and how great of a parent you were/are. While we got away with a lot of things, I always knew I could tell you anything, especially when I screwed up [which I never did :)], and that you wouldn't love me less. You always encouraged us to do sports, music, acting, etc. and to be well-rounded people. You also taught us that we could be anything that we wanted and that we could make a better life for ourselves by getting an education and by making good decisions. I have so much love and appreciation for you that I could never say it all on this post or probably ever. Mom, thank you for everything, I love you.

Steve- I am so grateful that you have become apart of our family and that you make my mom so happy. You come from a wonderful family and you and your family have been so accepting of us and taken us into your family as well. Honestly it seems like you have been apart of our family for so much longer than 5(?) years! See what I mean! You are a very hard worker and you are probably the only man that could put up with such an opinionated and stubborn woman (what do you expect she was a single mother)! I love that all of the grandchildren flock to you and that you enjoy being around them and playing with them. I look so forward to you guys coming and I love you too.

Dad- The thing I remember the most about you is the late night talks. I loved being able to talk to you about anything and you would listen to me. I knew I could ask you anything and get an honest answer. I hope that always continues. I also remember when I was in kindergarten and you sent me a basket full of candy bars, especially butterfingers which were my favorite at the time, and seem to be my favorite again at the present time. It made me feel so special and loved. Even though you were and are miles away and we didn't talk much I loved every chance I got to talk and spend time with you. I loved going to stock car races and getting bratwursts, and going to rodeos (even though I lost interested in them for awhile). Mostly I just loved spending time with you and I look forward to October when I get to see you and you get to meet Axton (he's my pride and joy). I love you.

Julie- You have been in my life forever!! I remember the first time we met and so do you, I was 4 or 5 and you gave me a mermaid doll for my birthday and her hair changed colors from blonde to either pink or blue depending on the temperature of her hairbrush! It has always been easy to talk to you. You were the one that made the summers fun for me when I stayed with you guys because you always tried to make sure I had a friend or two and always tried to get me out of the house and doing something. Thanks for everything and like the others I love you too!