Kaila with an i: Happy Birthday to You

Today is a special day. Today is the anniversary of the first date I ever went on with my mister… a triple date to a ghetto bowling alley with some great friends where I already knew I was in love. When they dropped us girls off, it was snowing for the first time that year – something so romantic about the first snow of the season. A kiss I’ll never forget marked the day I knew I’d met my soul mate.

That was a huge tangent for the fact that TODAY is the birthday of one of my favorite people in the entire world. And her name is mom.

At my wedding, I did a speech about how my mom was my “superwoman,” and there has never been a truer statement. She is the bomb. Do people still say that? Anyway, I think this is the first year I’ve been away from my mom on a birthday (well, except for a few years back when I was out bowling with the mister on our first date – see above – but I bet she forgives me for that one). I wish I could be home to buy her a nice strong drink or two (or three, or four) and dance our butts off, because I know that’s what we’d be doing.

Lately, being in California has been a little more soul-crushing than normal. A phone call from my princess of a 4 year-old sister begging me to come see her broke my heart a few days ago, and I’ve since been missing my family more than normal. I’m already counting down the days until I get to squeeze all of their cute little faces.

But enough about me. On a serious note, my mom is the best. A few days ago, we Skyped at 1am (my time… so 4am East Coast time in case you suck at math). We may or may not have been under the influence of a few alcoholic beverages and also eating a ton of pizza… like mother, like daughter. I'm pretty sure we "cheers"ed each other with pizza slices. I couldn’t stop looking at myself on the camera, so she got a close up of my eyeball a few times. And all she could say to her friend was, “Look how cute she is!”

Earlier this week, she found out that she got a dream job, and I am just too excited for her. There is no one more deserving. She is the hardest working person I have ever met (and the best nurse, for sure). She’s not afraid to whip you into shape, and I’m so thankful I had that growing up. When I went through some rough years in high school, where the people I thought I loved most were bailing on me left and right, my mom was there. I was a complete b@#$% to her and she loved me anyway. That’s rough, because sometimes people are b@#$%!s to me and I hate them for it. She’s been through hell and back in her life, and she still rocks it every single day. That’s impressive… when I stub my toe, I’m pissed for a week.

So happy birthday to the most kick-ass woman I’ve ever met – my superwoman. What are you, like 29 today?

PS – She also makes some awesome kids. Just sayin’…