My Three Valentines...They Melt and Fill My Heart

 I have three kids.

 I love them equally,  get mad at  them equally...but for the most part they have equally been the greatest pleasure and treasure of my life.

What makes it even better is that not only do I enjoy their company but they still all seem to enjoy mine.

My oldest  came out of high school with an extremely high GPA and I never even saw him crack a book. He went straight into college on the Hope scholarship, straight into a Fraternity and his GPA went straight  down the drain. We paid for one semester but he decided to join the work force like so many other kids with grand ideas which in actuality means they have "No idea." He floundered a bit but has landed on his feet and makes me proud that he is doing it all on his own. We wanted to help him  more but when the proverbial financial axe fell on our household and he was in his twenties...we not so gently shooed him out of the nest and hoped for the best. He made it. He seems to be doing well with his movie star good looks working for a Toyota dealership selling cars. If anyone can sell a woman a car it's him. He is dangerously handsome and has a winning personality and dazzling smile. (Thanks to the three grand I spent on braces and retainers)

Next in line is my son "Bill (Zachary Cotton) Gates."  I swear he is the smartest person I have ever met and the icing on the cake (or his terrible misfortune) is he has MY personality! But just like I did, he is fumbling in his late teens. He didn't GET through high school, we had to pull parental rank often and push him through while listening to him scream out his disparity of how cruel unjust and messed up society is. He was always right in his arguments often wrong in his methods but the only kid that got a standing ovation from the janitorial staff at graduation.

I could have done so much in my late teens but chose not to...a choice I still regret to this day. It makes me feel better that he is at least a hundred times smarter than me and I have full confidence that he will make his mark and the entire world will stop to listen.

Then I have my girl. Yes she was pampered and both the boys know it. But for Pete's sake when you are born under four pounds almost three months early and your mother nearly died having you...you NEED to be babied!

Sixteen years later and I am still doing it. (my bad)

So here we are a quarter of a century later. We've had good times we've had great times and we've had some not so great times.

What's important to me is we all seem to love each other. I almost killed myself for two years working ungodly hours and weeks on end. Things have settled down and by  the Grace of God, friends...strangers and family we have made it.

What I realize now is that I have three amazing kids that still aren't embarrassed to be seen or hang out with me. They make me smile and laugh and whether or not it is totally genuine they still seem to think I am a pretty cool mom.

Could I have done a better job? Of course . Am I proud of my kids? You dang straight!

My three Valentines...I love them so much it is a physical ache. There is nothing I wouldn't do (or often times have) done for them.

My kids love me and I am a fifty one year old bag of bones. What greater joy could a "Momma" have? (Except to wake up weighing ten pounds more.)

We'll give my husband a shout out for sperm donation and always being a hard worker! That's totally MY fault. I met him and he made the mistake of falling in love with a bizarre crazy control freak who shoved him down the path of life.

We're a crazy bunch here...but sometimes crazy is what can get you through. Dwell too much on the negative and it can be your demise. Realize you are only human and make sure you do your best every day  you wake up.

Learn to love and learn to earn to be loved!

I can't imagine not having my three kids. I can't imagine not having the trials and even the tribulations of raising them.

I'll have the fanciest "Rascal" in the nursing home when all my kids are millionaires. They don't need to buy me a horn for it...I'll be running my trap (horn) for as long as I can. They'll just need to buy their Dad earplugs so he doesn't have to listen to me anymore.

Happy Valentine's Day...Hug someone, tell someone you love them and always love your fellow man...No matter what their story is no matter what their  gender or preference is. No matter what their political or religious views are. No matter if they are rich or destitute. We all need love and love is the key!

"Love is all you need."

COTTON