My Mom and Me - April 27, 1998

I originally wrote this tribute to my mom in May 1998.

Mom, you are my best friend in life.  You have always been.  You and I have been thru a lot together. 

You and I have always been close.  Maybe it is because of my start in life. Maybe because we were meant to be close.

You and I have been thru a lot together.  You've always been there for me whenever I've had surgery.  You have been there for every one of my surgeries. You've seen me go to the OR 35 times.  Our ritual right before surgery.. A BIG hug.  You still have to watch me go to the OR a couple of more times.

You've always been my biggest advocate in life.  The first day you were in shock and recovering from my birth.  Once you got over the initial shock, you knew that I would need help.  You met the PS, who would be my doctor for twenty-nine years, the day after I was born.  After you came home from the hospital, you did some research on him thru the AMA and found out that he was one of the best here in the Mid-America area.  You would go to him with anything and he would help you as best as he could.  If you didn't like a specialist, you would go back to him and tell him that you didn't like that person.  He would find another specialist.  I think that you learned many of your advocacy skills from my longtime PS. You also got many of your advocacy skills from Mrs. Speyer.  I've seen you advocate for everything for me from medical care to speech therapy to school issues to insurance.  You've advocated for me soo many times.  You taught me how to be my own advocate.

You've always been there for me when I needed you.  I can remember the day that I got notified of my layoff from my job on Tues., Dec. 31, 1996.  I could tell that you were relieved that I was out of that job because you knew how bad it was for me.  I don't know who was more relieved.. you or me.

You know my feelings/emotions without ever having to ask me.  You are very intuned to me even tho I am an adult.  You've always been that way.

You have always believed in me.  I think that it started when I was misdiagnosed with mental retardation at age 2 1/2.  After being referred by the children's hospital in Kansas City to a preschool for children with visual impairments, the director of the preschool noticed that I did not have the social skills of a child with mental retardation.  I was retested at 4 yrs. of age and found to have normal intelligence.  You noticed my learning abilities. You really pushed me in school to be a good student.  Your efforts paid off.. I was a good student.  I graduated in the top 30% of my class and was a member of the National Honor Society.  I went on to attend the University of Kansas. You taught me to believe in myself.

Mom, I don't know what I would do without you.  I LOVE YOU SOOO MUCH!!! :-)   I know that I don't say it enough!

Dear Mom,

Thank you for everything you've ever done for me and will ever do for me.

Thank you for being there for me during the good times and bad times.

Thank you for being my best advocate.

Thank you for believing in me.

Thank you for being my best friend.

Thank you for being my mom. 

Love & Hugs,
Kristi