Dear Mama...

Kerry Lesinski...aka Mommers,

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for every single thing you have ever given me and done for me in my life. Thanks for leaving New Jersey (no, really ...THANK YOU!!) and moving to sunny South Florida. Thanks for picking Dad, getting together and then promptly settling down on Fillmore, then Madison Street. Thank you for raising me in strength and Faith (Psalm 103). You have always walked through your life with your head held high, even in the midst of some of the darkest days. What an example you have set for me...

Thank you for living what it means to be a woman of integrity, beauty, and love. Thank you for all the lessons you have taught me in my life (the older I get, the more I realize just how right you always were and STILL ARE!). I have been blessed with a heart (Hart;) like yours. You love easily and completely. You always give the benefit of the doubt and never doubt the benefit (I just made that up!). You are my safe shelter in the storms of life. I always know where home is.

You are home.

Now, in no particular order I would like to:

Thank you for teaching me how to do the laundry really well so that the freshness lasts for days.

Thank you for trusting me with Nana's glass bread baking dishes (I think this is why my banana bread is so loved!).

Thank you for teaching me never to take the milk (or ketchup, or bag of shredded cheese, or carton of eggs) at the very front of the supermarket shelf and to always inspect the 'Sell By' dates on my food.

Thank you for teaching me how to properly apply eyeshadow and which undergarments suit each outfit appropriately.

Thank you for being my biggest fan and cheerleader.

"Come over here and let me see you for a minute." I think that is your favorite thing to say to me.

Thank you for laughing at all my jokes.

Thank you for always seeing the real me and encouraging me in all my personal goals.

I am so unbelievably blessed to have you as my Mother. One day I will be a mother (God willing and God help me) and I pray that I can be even only just half the mom you are to me.

I am me because you are you.

I love you and I thank you.

Happy Birthday