Tessa Bug

I have known you before you were even born.
And I loved you before I ever met you.
I watched you grow from shy to confident,
from chubby to perfectly proportioned
(except your head is a wee big),
from stubborn to stubborner.
Do you still put yourself in the corner?
I watched your love grow,
your independence grow,
and your bangs grow out several times.

I love you when you are sick and sassy and silly.
Sometimes you are seriously silly.
Don’t you love being an oxymoron?
That’s a definite maybe.
Ha ha! Pretty awful, right?
You make me laugh and you laugh at my jokes.
That’s why I love you. You are laughing at my jokes?

I love you because you forged notes to your first grade teacher.
I love you because you modeled seven layers of your big girl panties
wearing a turquoise bow in your hair.
I love you because you invented a toilet paper holder with dental floss.

As a child you wouldn’t let different kinds of food touch on your plate,
or anyone sign your snow white cast on your broken arm.
As a child you would swing up to the moon and back again,
And dance dance dance.
And I loved you for all your little idiosyncrasies.
As an adult
I love your more for all your big ones.
I love that you still dance dance dance!
And if you stumble or fall you make it part of the dance.

You tell me things sometimes more than a mother should know.
You whisper secrets even though you know I can’t keep
them locked inside my head.
You share your worries and joys and oh-nos with me.
“Oops, I just threw up!”
You describe chunks or liquid. Brown or yellow.
Sharing is caring. And I love you for that.

I love you because you are creative.
Homemade cards and gifts, your specialty, are especially special.

You hang your clothes arranged by color neatly in your closets.
I love that Amber resides in there wrapped snuggly in a tattered blanket.

I love you because you have a cat named Rex.
You let me call him Rex-a-roni and sometimes he writes letters to Tank.

So many reasons to love a Tessa Bug.
You really are an asset gub.
And that’s one more reason I love you.

I was a teacher. Dad was a teacher.
Yoursisterashelleigh is a teacher, too.
Now you will stand behind a pink podium and change the world.
That is why I love you!

I love you because you work hard.
You love to learn.
You set goals. You accomplish them.
Yet you take time to color and stay in the lines.
And you cry when you get a tiger for Christmas.
You make up songs (not as good as mine).
And you sing off-key in public places.

I have always loved you.
Before, when you were just a tickle in my belly.
In between, when you were a pain in my neck.
Now, when you are my shining star.
Tessa, I am so proud of you.
I love you up to the moon and back again
And wish your wish:
Live happily ever after.
Happy Valentine’s Month!
loveyourmother