Growing Blueberries: Celebrating Lovey's 50th!

This past weekend, my mom turned the big 5-0! She wanted nothing more than her family to gather together in Cashiers to celebrate. The weekend gave me a chance to reflect on what an amazing mother I have. Becoming a mom myself has brought back memories of the fun and creative things momma did with Tyler, Bobby, and me. Every time the Book Mobile came to Lookout Mountain, we were there, waiting to check out the maximum number of books. Because she is an artist, we would often go with her to a pottery store to get her creations fired and she would let us pick out a piece of pottery to paint. One weekend we thought we were driving to Atlanta and Mom and Dad put on Mickey Mouse hats in the car and surprised us with a trip to Disney World. We acted like we had won the lottery! I have vivid memories of many trips to the nature center to look at animals and read books and have a picnic in the bamboo forest. The holidays are filled with fun traditions she initiated. Christmas brought nightly readings around a lighted advent wreath, matching PJs, and hide the pickle. Easter was not Easter without dying eggs and having a hunt. The food was taken very seriously at Thanksgiving. Mom was always on the lookout for an educational game. We had no lack of GeoSafari's, Carmen San Diego games, and flash cards. We also own any board game that has "family fun" printed on the box.

Some of my best family memories are in our silver bullet Airstream trailer. She hounded dad to purchase a travel trailer (if you know Natalie Huffaker, this is hilarious) so we could take trips up the east coast to Maine and all the way out to Wyoming one summer. Sometimes we would even set up the trailer at a campground just outside of Chattanooga so mom could create quality family time. She always hung the fish and shotgun shell Christmas lights on the awning, built a fire (or rather, had dad build one), and created campground ambiance, even if it was just for a one night stay passing through town on the way to our final destination.

Ambiance is momma's specialty. Only in adulthood have I come to appreciate mom's good taste and hard work to make a home feel like home, a meal a time to linger and talk, and even morning coffee a nostalgic time by the fire. We were thrilled to gather in mountain home she designed and decorated almost single handedly to celebrate our fabulous mom! Here are some pics from the celebration: