So before you read this, you should know that I wrote this on February 7th, but because the internet at my apartment goes in and out, it's almost impossible to get a post out. But after working with my land lady on her modem, we (meaning I) figured out a way to make it work.
Today is my Mom's birthday. It's rather fitting that February is the month of love considering Valentine's Day is just around the corner. It's also rather fitting that my Mom's maiden name is love. When I think about Valentine's day this year, I, like many of you, think about all the people I love. That's a lot of very close commas! I love a fair amount of people, but the person I love most in the world is my mother. Looking back, I recall the strongest feelings of love towards her, times like my first year of college, my hardest days at work, and especially being here in Thailand. If someone were to ask me something like, "if you had to save one person from blah blah blah destruction, who would it be?" The answer to every single question of that type would be my mom.
Whenever I imagine my family coming here to Thailand, one of the first things I think of is all of them riding a motorbike. Who would ride with whom and who would drive and stuff like that. At first, I imagined mom riding with dad. But I don't know how skilled my dad would be on a motorbike, so I came to the conclusion that she would ride with me. Because I would die if anything ever happened to her, especially on the dangerous roads of Thailand. I couldn't even imagine what I would do if she were in an accident like mine. Whenever I get really sad during a movie, my mind immediately runs to how much I love my mom. Now you might say that makes me a mamma's boy, and you're right. I absolutely, unequivocally, unconditionally love my mom.
She's my biggest cheer leader. It's quite an extraordinary thing how the words of the person you love most in the world can affect you. While her criticisms cut me down the most, her encouragements lift me higher than the clouds. Thankfully she mostly gives encouragement. =] I remember when I was little and Dad would tickle Mom and she would always scream. Not a bad scream, a laughing scream. But every time it would make me cry because I didn't like my mom in any position of pain. Even today, I really hate when my mom is unhappy. One time in college, one of my roommates had a disagreement with me. He told his mom and his mom told my mom. I was furious! My mom doesn't need that kind of drama! The same thing happened last year when I left Mammoth Lakes; the man I was staying with involved my dad and my mom! That time I was livid. I wanted to march over to his house and punch him square in the face just because he had involved my mother. The moral of this story is don't mess with my mom or you'll have to mess with me. I like how it worked out that she has taken such good care of me since I made her a mother, because now I get to transition into taking care of her.
I used to go through the list of my friends' moms to see if I would ever want to trade them for my mom. Every time I liked the idea of my mom over everyone else's mom. I did that because every time I told her she was my favorite mom, I was telling the absolute truth. I love my mom so extremely much and I'm so blessed to have Lynn Love Erickson as my mother. I miss her so much, but I know she's always praying for me and thinking about me. One of my favorite memories of her is during high school; I was going through some pretty rough stuff, mainly un-diagnosed depression. Almost every morning, I would walk down the stairs to get ready in the morning and there would be a little note on the last stair. I would open it and find a little encouraging note paired with a Bible verse, or a clipping from her morning devotion. Even if I was in a hurry and just glanced at it, or had time to sit down and soak it all in, I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that I was loved by my mom. And still today, I have never known a day where my mom didn't love me. And I hope she knows that not a day goes by when I don't think about that and how much I love her.
Happy birthday, Mom! The people I show your picture to honestly think you're in your 30's. You are absolutely my favorite mom =] Love, Ben
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