Happy Mother’s Day, Taren!

Top five things that I love about my mom:

1) She adores her grandgirls and has fully embraced her role as “Gran-C”. The self-proclaimed “Road Warrior” makes the 7 1/2 hour trip to Charlottesville every month to visit Hendley and MR. She is very hands-on with the girls and checks her “grand blogs” several times a day to see pictures and keep up with their daily activities. In addition to spoiling her grandgirls, she also loves her granddogs and demands to see pictures of them too! Gran C even allows Sadie and Reagan to jump on the sofa and occasionally sleep in her bed.

2) She’s a giver. You’ll never leave my mom’s house empty-handed. She also gives to those who need it most. Walk around town with my mom and you will see that she knows every homeless person in Athens, Georgia– by name.

3) She’s young at heart. She is a self-proclaimed facebook stalker and has recently signed up for her own account. In one week she already had more friends than my sister (sorry, Julie). She is also a fan of reality tv, especially American Idol and Dancing with the Stars (don’t dare call her during one of these programs). One of her “friends” on facebook is non-other than Jason Castro from American Idol. Apparently she had been offering him some friendly advice before he got voted off the show.

Carol Harrell wrote at 8:06pm on May 2nd, 2008 Jason, How about singing some Bob Dylan or Paul Simon on Tues?

Jason Castro wrote at 9:09pm yesterday thanks for the song ideas i cant say what i actually chose…lovely american idol contracts. but…you’ll see on tuesday thanks for the support, Jason Catro. xxx

 4) She has a sense of humor and doesn’t take life too seriously. It doesn’t take much to get my mom “tickled”. She is the first to spill food on her clothing, the first to trip while walking, and the first to laugh at herself. My mom doesn’t mind that my sister and I refer to her as “Taren” instead of “mom”…its a long story, but we’ve been calling her that for over 10 years now.

 5) She is as strong as a mule. Forget having a man around on moving day. Last year, my mom came up while I was 8 months pregnant to help us move. She moved box after box and single handily moved a mattress, hutch, and dresser. There’s just no stopping this woman…

I love you mom! Wish I could be there in person to wish you a Happy Mother’s day. Thank you for teaching me how to give, laugh, and love.

Saint Taren

 Be young, be foolish, be happy…

Christmas 2007

Big Daddy, Gran C, and the grandgirls