The First September Birthday

Today my mom (a.k.a. Nana Lorrie, Lala, Sis, Lorrie Mae, Maeya, and most recently Nannie) is having a birthday.

This is my favorite picture of my mom and Layla. Mainly because those big wide rimmed hats and visors remind me of my mommy when I was little. She was a yard duty aid and she usually had a big hat, lots of keys with a whistle and a huge smile when I was growing up.

She taught me it was better to be weird then boring. As a result, I am probably one of the happiest weird people you'll ever meet. She taught me to find myself beautiful and confident no matter what I was wearing, what size I was or what the wind was doing to my hair.

She's the kind of person who will let you pretend to tickle her so that the baby will laugh. She'll find you old sheets to make a fort in the trees across the street from the house. She reads the best stories outloud and she is always willing to play a game with you. She makes great fried chicken and chocolate chip cookies.

She's a talker. She's going to be that old woman at the rest home with 500 pictures and nothing better to do than follow people around and brag about her great great grandkids. I know this because she already follows people around bragging about her first granddaughter. And when the kids come to visit she'll dress up and play pretend no matter who's watching her.

My mom grew by leaps and bounds this year both emotionally and spiritually and I'm really really proud that some day she can teach all she learned to my daughter. Ok maybe not ALL the things she learned...but at least the good parts.

Happy Birthday Crazy Lady!