dear mom:

Hi Mama. Yesterday was Mother's Day and I'm so glad we were able to share it with you. I hope you enjoyed brunch. I know it was a little stressful for you to meet the in-laws for the first time, but I think everyone had a nice day.

Of course, thanks to the mild anxiety and unbridled perfectionism that I'm fairly certain that I inherited from you; I was awake at 6 am thinking about all the things that still needed to be done before you arrived at 11. And of course, I got out of bed and started doing those things (as quietly as possible so as not to wake Mr. Lulu and give him yet another reason to find me slightly insane and therefore not marriage material). The lack of sleep was all worth it though, because by the time he got out of bed I woke him up a couple of hours later I had a table that would have made Martha proud, quiche and pecan caramel sticky buns in progress, and just a little bit of crazy left to spare.

Thankfully, Mr. Lulu is as patient as they come, and he always knows what I need to hear. Sometimes it's a gentle reminder to "slow down, breathe" and sometimes it's just a well-timed "love you". With his support and the hostessing finesse that you taught me, I think we were able to pull off a pretty good day.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the bacon and asparagus quiche, and the POG mimosas were delicious! Michelle was right- once you go POG, you'll never go back! And thanks to this book, which I love, and some freakishly lucky timing, we had fresh hot pecan caramel sticky buns just in time for brunch-dessert, and they were wonderful!

I also want to take this opportunity to let you know that I'm so grateful for the relationship that we share. I think it's taken a long time for us to achieve the level of closeness that we finally have, and I know we still have a long way to go, but it's really wonderful to have you in my life.

I know that I was a spoiled brat of a child, and I've spent many years alternating between taking you for granted and lacking the patience to spend any time getting to know you. I think now I'm finally old enough to understand you and appreciate you for who you are. It's also obvious that I'm becoming more and more like you every day, and I have to say- I don't mind that one bit. I'm incredibly lucky and I hope you know how much I love you.

Thanks for everything Mom, you're an amazing woman. Happy Mother's Day!

love,
lulu