now i know that you all are wondering how it is that i became the BEST mom on the planet? of course, it is none of my own children wondering that... but that is only because they KNOW how it happened...
it happened all on it’s own... in a vacuum.
ha ha
OK, maybe i had a good role model or two... or three...
and some royalty.
like princess lisa.
and she even has the crown to prove her princess status... and the closet space. but i don’t have a photo of her closet, so just trust me on that. and trust me that even though she has that incredible full closet... she would give you anything out of there if you needed it or asked her for it. she is so generous for a princess....
career wise, she could have done anything.. she could have been employee of the month at walmart (except she has a bit of an aversion to le mart de wal). so much of an aversion that once some friends threw her a walmart party, it was SUPPOSED to be a surprise. but i kind of messed it up and told her about it and so she came dressed already for the surprise party that she wasn’t supposed to know about. i love a gal who surprises everyone at her own surprise party....
when she isn’t working at walmart, she is on PHENOMENAL teacher. she and i taught at the same school and were pregnant at the same time. she delivered her second son while i was just going into labor with my first daughter. they were born one day apart and we like to tease them about being “naked in the nursery” together. and neither one of them is smart enough to point out that they were wearing diapers in the nursery....
so she had a bit of a head start on the whole parenting thing and i was right behind her taking notes.... and my notes all said... “be there with them, have fun, enjoy parenting, and READ out loud every day!”
she is quite a scrapbooker and she makes beautiful pages that put all of the rest of us to shame. these are not two of her most beautiful pages featured in the photos, but why would i take photos of beautiful pages that would put my pages to shame? i don’t like shame. so i take pictures of really bad pages that she does to make myself feel better. i feel so much better looking at those pages.... i am not a really good friend....
but lisa is...
when maxx was just a baby, lisa started giving me her boys too small clothing. and it was some nice clothing (they are the sons of a princess). she would painstakingly go through their clothes and bring me bags full at my house. when i moved to florida, i thought those lovely days were over and i would have to buy maxx his own “yeddow” boots. but NO, she would mail or have bags for me when i came to town. her willingness to share and to help others is one of my favorite things about her...
that and her birthday parties. lisa KNOWS how to throw a themed birthday party. i got every good party idea i ever stole and claimed as my own inspired genius from her or dina. i have me some party planning friends. if lisa, dina, and i went into a party planning business, we would be famous and i would have no time for blogging.
lisa loves her family. i have rarely ever seen a family that loves to be together as much as she and her hubby and two boys. they love to read together, play together, vacation together, and laugh together. i don’t think that i could even add up the number of books that she has read out loud to her boys over the past 17 years. i always wanted to read whatever it was lisa was reading to her boys. she knows good reads... and once a year they all huddle around and read the marshall family Christmas card out loud together. and i really love that.
i also love lisa’s commitment to always looking good.... i have never seen her in something unmatching. unattractive. un-lisa.
i love that we can pick on lisa the princess, we can set off a fart machine under her chair at a fancy restaurant, throw her a walmart party, and sneak bumper stickers on her car and she still hangs out with us and gives us clothing and great gifts...
she either...
- has an incredible sense of humor
- is afraid of how we would treat her if she WASN’T our friend
- loves us all dearly
- a bit of all of the above
so here’s a toast to the princess...
may your reign over the kingdom of kindness forever.
and may you never pass gas in public...
oh, you were never going to do that anyway.
that is why you are a princess...