2 Way to Go, Mom!

 My mom annoys the crap out of me.

I'm pretty sure I annoy the crap out of her, too-

so it's okay.

While I think she's intrusive, dorky, and irritating,

I'm also really proud of her.

See, she has a past-

(no, Dirty, not that past)

a pre-kids past.

When she was 18 she went to Germany for a year as an au pair.

We heard about this frequently growing up,

especially after Rebekah and I took German in school

(neither of our schools gave us a choice, FYI).

But then she got married, moved to Georgia,

had four daughters...

and became boring, and a wearer of crew socks and sweatshirts.

While she still wears crew socks and sweatshirts,

she's using her golden years to rekindle her inner adventurer.

Having tea at Betty's in Harrogate.

She came to visit us in November 2010, which only partially counts, since she was visiting us.

That said, your first long-haul flight in 40 years is still kind of a big deal.

image courtesy of Colin Garrett

This year she decided to kick it up a notch.  She left the school system when I was 15 to become a full-time nanny, and has had several nanny families since (kids grow up, you know?).  One of her former nanny families moved to Thailand and she's been plotting a visit since.  She's finally gotten out there, and is having a blast spending time with "her" kids and sightseeing.

Well, that might still only partially count, since she's visiting someone she knows again.

However.

My mom is OBSESSED with babies. 

No, I don't understand it, but whatever.  She is.

She's followed the stories of a Chinese orphanage, the Starfish Foster Home, for years.

When she was planning this trip to the other side of the world she decided to go to China for a couple of weeks and volunteer at the orphanage.

To be honest, my sister and I were a little surprised she didn't just move in there.

I mean, come on?  A building chock-full of babies?
When you *choose* to spend your retirement cleaning up spit-up and rocking whiny teethers-
after doing it four times over for your own-
how could that not be a building full of your own baby-poo rainbows and gummy-smile sunshine?

Unfortunately, she was apparently too busy holding the babies to get any pictures of herself with them-
I think it's so Interpol (is that even real??) won't have photo evidence when she baby-snatches them all.

We do have this gem, though:

Image courtesy of Linda Tunnell, another American volunteer.

She and another volunteer were riding around the city wall and became the photo-op for two Chinese tourists.  And here I thought a short, dark-haired (if you don't count all the gray) lady wouldn't have been the novelty.  She isn't even showing her crew socks!

Love you, Mom, and I'm proud of you!