Blogging from the Fort

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

After one too many slices of too many different varieties of cake and one too many games of poker tonight, all I can say is, I love my family, I love my mom, and my mom is truly superwoman.

She is the strongest and most admirable woman that I have ever known, and just when I think I couldn't love her or be impressed by her any more, she does something so generous or creative or mindblowing (baby at 44? Why not?), that you realize that half of your incredulous appreciation lies in the fact that she still maintains mystique and can surprise you to no end. (Which includes her shocking penchant for Howard Stern and once claiming "Old School" was her new favorite movie. Probably while wearing Chanel.) She is my best friend in life and the only person I can spend days on end with and somehow it is never enough. She gave me the joie de vivre and carpe diem attitude that I am proud to exhibit each and every day, not just because of the life that she built for us and opportunities that she provided for me, but because she exhibits that admirable attitude each and every day. I strive to be half the woman that she is and to emulate her strength, compassion, and integrity. I respect her more than anyone alive. Even Obama con Nobel. She made such an incredible life for us both by working her way up from the worst high school in Buffalo to where she is today and provided me with every opportunity I could ever dream of and more than I ever even knew to imagine.

Thank you mom, happy birthday!! I love you more than I can express in a blog.