Sixty years of mom

This past Monday, my mom turned 60 years old. For a brief moment, my three siblings and I talked about surprising her in Utah that weekend. With one child in Utah, one in California, one in Arizona and myself in Iowa, she doesn't see us all together very often. I may have been the child who ruined the whole let's-all-get-together plan, but with nearly $500 plane tickets, unpredictable weather and some already planned trips right before and after, it just wasn't feasible for a quick weekend. 

I was feeling really horrible about it all - I wanted to celebrate my mom and show her how much I love her! So, I got an idea to try and contact friends, co-workers and family members from all stages of her life and have them all send me a message for or memory of her so I could compile it all in a book. 

What an incredible experience it was to receive email after email, facebook message after facebook message, even some snail mail letters, all honoring an incredible 60 years of someone I love more than words can say. Some messages had me in tears while others made me laugh out loud (sometimes in inappropriate places!). And the pictures! Oh, the pictures!

I am, obviously, not the only one who thinks my mom is awesome sauce. And the time I spent creating the book was absolutely worth it. I had it in my possession for one brief afternoon before I had to ship it right off to her to make it in time for her big day. 

She says she loves it and feels it is a treasure for her to have. More than anything, I just hope she knows that she has been a treasure to me and many others during her sixty years. 

Happy 60 mom. Here's to 60 more!