Flowers and little chirpy birds for Mom's Earth Day Birthday

Today's my sweet little mom's birthday, so I thought I'd pay her a little photo tribute. Since her birthday falls on Earth Day, we always made it some kind of joke in the family, calling her birthday Mother Earth Day, or getting a birthday cake that says Earth Day. It's fitting, though, because my mom was into nature and recycling long before it was cool. Ok, some would call it "buying other people's junk from thrift shops and flea markets" but it's still recycling, isn't it? ;)

My mom, in the time I've known her, always hated having her picture taken, but I have photographic proof that this wasn't always the case. My dad was into photography (apple didn't fall far from the tree there, did it?), and Mom seems to have been his favorite subject. I don't have many of their old photos at my house, but I did find a couple.

Sadly, many photos were destroyed during the Agnes Flood the year I was born. The ones that did get saved... I can take credit for that. You see, I was 2 weeks old and my mom was up feeding me at 3am when she heard on the radio that there was a high chance of the water going over the levee. She woke up the family and started packing then and there, so they had a head start on the evacuation process. A lot of stuff, they just packed in plastic bags and put them in the attic, but the house is a one story ranch style, and the flood waters were higher than our roof! The house was washed off the foundation, and was stuck in the middle of the street, stopped by a giant oak tree. (Sing it with me now, "Our house... in the middle of the street... Our house!")

Anyway, here's my mom. I inherited her love of gardening, the outdoors, sewing, antiques and yard sales. She's the one who got me into reading (starting with Misty of Chincoteague and the Little House on the Prarie books), and Halloween (we never had a store bought costume). She encouraged all of us kids (I'm the youngest of six) to be creative, even if we made her house a mess in the process. There was always magic marker on the coffee table and Play Doh in the rugs. She didn't complain if we brought home a stray dog or cat... or squirrel or bunny or baby bird (or sometimes snakes and turtles). I barely remember a summer growing up where we weren't hand feeding some kind of orphaned critter. Any wonder I grew up to be a vet tech?

So... Happy Birthday Mom! Thanks for being you and letting us grow up to be us.