Happy Birthday Mom! I couldn’t be happier with the quality of mom that I got. You’re so A+.

My biggest complaint with being in CT is the few cute single women. But the SECOND biggest complaint is that I’m not close enough to my folks back at home. Hopefully when this school crap ends I’ll be able to hang out with my cool mom more often.

I love ya ma! Happy Birthday!

My Mom has a huge amount of books under her belt. She likes mystery thriller types and is always reading something fun.

My Mom works the crossword puzzle in the daily paper.

How do people DO that. Those things are so freakin’ hard.

Mom D.: by the way, that ice cream was when somebody by mistake ran into you on the playground and you hit your head
Mike D.: Oh! ha ha! I thought I was sick.
Mom D.: the teacher sent you to the nurse but you felt fine so instead of going to the nurse you just went and got a drink of water
Mike D.: ha ha ha
Mom D.: then the teacher asked if you’d seen the nurse, and you said no, you felt fine. so she made you go to the nurse who called and said you’d hit your head
Mike D.: ha ha ha ha
Mom: I asked if you’d lost consciousness, had blurred vision, felt an upset stomach, or had a headache and she said no, you felt fine, but most mothers would come get their kid. so I got my mike and we partied at Baskins

Three Cheers for Mom D.

Recently I wanted to try and get more awake hours every day. I was train my body to survive on less and less sleep so that I could get extra guitar practice in. After a week of this, I was not particularly happy.

I called my mom who promptly informed me that I was a complete idiot.

My Mom and Dad go to theater shows somewhat regularly at the Northshore Music Theater. After productions I have vivid memories of seeing my Mom dancing and singing through the parking lot as we worked our way to the car. As a kid, I think I was embarrassed. But now it’s easy to see she’s just happy and carefree.

My mom works out like crazy. Every morning she’s on her treadmill doing her exercises. She’s got arm movements and does Curves circuits. Even though she hates it (”time for my stupid exercise”), her discipline is amazing.

Great job mom!

As I mentioned earlier, my mom is the librarian at the High School. She called me up just the other day to tell me a story of an interaction she had with a student. Apparently the kids needed to come up with a sound track for Lord of the Flies. My mother, to the dropped jaws of the students recommended they the check lyrics of songs by Rage Against the Machine.

I scrolled through a few old posts that I put up that quoted my mom in funny scenarios. Here’s a sampler:

While discussing one of the more conservative priests at my local parish

mom: and some people don’t like how strict he is with his refusal to marry couples that live together. now, I think it’s important to stand by your convictions. If you start letting one or two things slip the next thing you know, you’re Episcopalian!

I call my mom from a Georgia business trip…

mike d: the weather is really nice. the sun is shining and there’s a light breeze.
mom: wow, that sounds great! It’s freezing here and there’s 4 feet of snow on the ground.
mike d: hey! a butterfly just flew by!
mom: hey! a frozen bird just fell from the tree!

The day of my sister’s wedding

Mom: Mike, see if you can time your shower downstairs so that it starts right when Alicia gets in the shower upstairs. You’ll steal all her hot water.

My dad tells a story
Dad D: and Mike C. played guitar. He was driving along one day and found a barrel. A big giant wooden barrel. He put straps on it and wore it as a costume. Like the hobos. In general everyone wore costumes. That was the big deal. I got this thing like an oriental robe… it had all sorts of sparkles and gold… something that a movie character might wear… and I had a blue feathered clown wig.

Mom: you know listening to this, I can’t believe I married you.

My mother makes the most amazing birthday cakes. Most vivid in my memory is the Fire Truck cake. It had oreo wheels and licorice ladders. I was about 6 when I got that cake and it made my life worth living. It was everything a 6 year old could ever want in a cake. Other cakes that stand out were the millennium falcon cake and the Los Luchadores cake. That Los Luchadores cake was also A+. It was a picture perfect cake that resembled the main character (Lobo Fuerte) of Los Luchadores.

Thanks mom!

Not only is my mother able to successfully find perfect gifts for her children and her husband, she has become the ultimate gift giving coach. Weeks before any holiday, whether it be Christmas or a Birthday, we all check in with Mom to see if the target family member would like what we got them or if anyone else already bought them that particular gift. She is a database of gifts.

She herself always asks for edible holidays. Chocolates, wines, and other luxuries always bring hugs and smiles.

When I went away to college I was flabbergasted when I called home on a Friday night and no one picked up. Whaaaat? It seems as soon as us kids were out of their hair my folks started going to parties and wild events. Yes, the empty nest was treating them very very well.

For quite some time my mom and I were pretty competitively trying to beat each other that the game Snood. I had a couple good rounds, but my mom was a tough player. My Mom is highly skilled with her mouse.

My Mom gives out King Sized Snickers bars on Halloween. Enough said.

My mom and sister went to a music concert in Boston. What they didn’t know, is that their tickets were fraudulent. Upon finding that their seats were taken, they notified officials who took a look at their tickets and promptly confiscated them. Police were called and my mother and sister were taken by police escort out of the building.

Having a mom who works in the school library is pretty darn convenient. She would let me and my friends come into the library during ‘off hours’ for study hall. It was great! The only downside is that she also got direct feedback from all my teachers on my performance. That was a pain in the neck.

In seventh grade I was at school and wasn’t feeling too well. My mom came to pick me up from school and promptly brought me to Baskin Robbins where she bought me two scoops of “Quarterback Crunch” ice cream.

Absolutely delicious.

My mom is an amazingly light sleeper. When I was a little kid, if there was a night where I couldn’t sleep, had a nightmare, or was feeling sick my mom was ready at a moment’s notice to comfort and console.

My mom had a weird skill of knowing exactly where we were at all times. More so than that… she’d also know who we were with. One time in high school I skipped out with Steve and came back to the house to watch the price is right during lunch. We returned to school and got back in plenty of time for our next class. It was a blast!

That night my mom asked me why Steve and I had come home during lunch that day…
How’d she know?!?

My youth spent with Gingerbread houses gave me sufficient experience so that in college I was able to make a wicked sweet gingerbread house at an APO event. That thing was sweet.

Back in elementary school my mom used to come into school around Christmas time to help the class make Gingerbread houses. It was a huge ordeal. She would construct all these little graham cracker gingerbread houses beforehand and then the kids would decorate them.

Each house had a little chimney and sharp pitched roof. It was extremely fun. My best friend Steve wasn’t in some of my classes, so he’d come over our house afterwards and my mom would have a special gingerbread house for him to make too.

Thanks ma!

My mom is big into quilting. She talked a little about it back on January 9th. But the extent to her quilting wasn’t well represented. For example, for the millennium my mom put together a quilt with 2000 pieces. 2000?!? Insane!

Quilts are everywhere in the house and it’s always nice to know that I won’t be too cold from lack of heavy quilts when I return home for a weekend. At one point I remember sitting with friends in the living room, looking around we could see 24 different quilts that had been completed by my mom.

She is a skilled craftsman of quilts.

I feel I need to start my day of mom dedication with this sweet photo of my mom when she was two

Note the dedication, the aim, and the determination. My mom carried these traits over when she started raising my two sisters and I. Don’t stand in her way, she’s fast and deadly especially with guns and delicious desserts.

It’s my Mom’s birthday!!! Today will be dedicated to fun little stories of my youth and how awesome my mom is. I love ya ma! You’re the best!