The title is not meant to upset anyone lol. I absolutely love that show. “The Gilmore Girls” was a show my mom and I would watch together and say how lucky we were to have a relationship like that (without dressing up in weird costumes, all night dance-a-thons, or talking so fast). Even better, we are real.

Ever since I was a little girl, I knew my mom was special. She’s the kind of person that absolutely loved being a mom and it showed. She was the one that every neighborhood kid called “mom” like she was their own, and they would sit at our dining room table and talk to her for hours about their problems and life situations, seeking advice and comfort. Everyone trusted her, and I always knew I could tell her anything. It was quite incredible the way she would allow me to voice my entire story and not interrupt me, even if I was in trouble. She would hear me, truly listening to what I had to say. I felt heard and understood always. It was because of this that I would fess up to things I would have preferred not to as I never wanted to lie to her and lose her trust. I would suffer in agony knowing that I had disappointed her far more than if she was just mad, and I would try harder not to be that person again. She knew how to draw a balance between being my mom and being my friend- a line that was always very clear, but is also what gave us the ability to have the kind of mother/daughter relationship that others dream about.

She is a master at killing with kindness. A woman that would bring cookies to the boys that scared her, making them cry because they then felt so bad. I am a better person for having watched her through the years as she is a tremendous friend who makes the people in her life feel valued. She still listens to all of my crazy ramblings and ideas- her “favorite” sentence of mine being “so I’ve been thinking…” because she knows there’s been hours and days of thinking behind that phrase that’s bringing change into my life. But she never complains. Never stops me. Never gets irritated with listening to me, and that’s a feeling that I’m not sure everyone understands and can appreciate. I’m not sure, even after the million times that I’ve told her, that she really understands how rare that is or how special. She has no idea how amazing she is, which only makes her that much more.

I am always feeling like I wish I could do more for my mom. She never wants for anything, nor does she ever verbalize a need. The one thing she had said she wanted was to see more of New England. Seeing as I was living in Vermont, I was finally in a position to treat her. I got to show her Vermont and add in a nice trip that she’d been wanting for years- Maine and Boston. It felt so good to be able to do that for her. I wish it could have been so much more because lord knows she deserves the world. Throughout my life she has been the best friend I could ever ask for, and an even better mom. She’s everything I hope I can grow up to be, still leading by example every day. I don’t know how she does it all and is all that she is, and I’m not sure I’ll ever truly reach those heights, but I keep trying.

Few know the true worth of a great mom. She’s priceless, and I will never be able to repay her for being her.