I hope I can get this post done, just inches from my elbow is a tired and angry 2 year old computer junkie loudly whining."PBS Kids internet, please."

Abez's post about mothers has made me want to write about my own wonderful mother. She 78 years old, very healthy, very independent, drives her age, still works giving companion care to the elderly, has been widowed 10 years and still lives alone. ( That's starting to look like a problem, but she has refused requests from us kids to move in with one of us for years.)

My mother lives on junk food and chocolate and is healthier than 90% of the people her age. If you cut her, she would bleed chocolate syrup.

My mother is such a neat and loving person, that people who meet her only once are so impressed by her that years later, they still inquire after as if she was their best friend.

Going to G-ma's house was the highlight of their young lives to my children. G-ma's house had a candy dish in every room but the bathroom and if my kids sucked the dishes dry, she would drive into town to get refill candy. And it was good chocolates too, not lame peppermints or butterscotch. G-ma's was the place to pig-out on junk food and kid friendly videos (a total change from life at home) That was pretty great, but add a fun and friendly grandmother and you have a formula for magical times. I would get to kick back a few days, be pampered myself and for a few days, become a daughter again, instead of mom.

Mom accepts people for who they are, but she expects everyone to do their best. She loves unconditionally, both saint and sinner. She is a great role model for me and my kids. On my left hand I wear an opal ring that reminds me of my own motherhood. On my right hand I wear an opal that was my mother's 25 birthday gift from my father. It's my heirloom inheritance and I wear it to remind me of my mother and her perfect love. It's an Indian fire opal as huge as my thumb nail and it glows with a warmth from inside, like my mothers heart.