All about my mom

I have a very distinct memory of my mother, my sister, and me the first Christmas I viewed my mom as also a friend and as well my mother. We were in California, in our family's condo, for Christmas. I mumbled something to my sister about some boy asking me out, someone they all knew (the horror of dating someone they approved of). I told my sister how I had uncertain feelings and on that, I had turned him down.

Across the room my mom overheard just a snippet and called out to us, "Who asked you out?" 

"No one. I don't want to talk about." 18 year old Chrissy said. 

"You'll never guess!" My sister taunted. "It was X!"

"You said no?! Why? X is great!" My mom chimed in.

They continued to tease me and prod me about this for quite some time. I remember how casual it all was - my parents were no longer panicking at the thought of me dating. I was a grown-up, past those "dangerous teenage years", and my mom wasn't stressed talking about this. My sister felt it was low key enough to include my mother, to rat me out. Sisters have a strong bond, and part of this is that you never tell Mom and Dad ANYTHING. However, this wasn't something we had to keep secret.

In that moment, giggling and joking together, I got a look at the beginning of how great it was to be an adult with my mom. She still cared about me, she still supported me. She would many times after that moment still help me up on my feet, dust myself off, and move forward. She would hold me when I sick or had a broken heart. But now my mom is one of my greatest friends, a relationship I cherish. There were moments when I know she clung to me when I didn't deserve it, and to think through it all, at the end of it all, she lets me be her friend... it's pretty cool.

You hear that? Moms are pretty cool.

Happy mother's day, Mom! I love you!