My Mommy You'll Be...

In honor of my 42nd birthday, my youngest daughter, Jericho is guest blogging for me today. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I did.

~TaunaLen

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“I’ll love you forever,
I’ll like you for always,
As long as I’m living,
My Mommy you’ll be…”


As a young girl, I remember a book I’d always ask my mother to read me. It’s about a young boy growing into a man, and throughout his years, his mother would come into his room, crawl across the floor, and peek over the edge of his bed. If he was really asleep she’d pick him up, no matter his age, and rock him, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, as he slept. She’d always sing this song, “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.”

As he gets older, moves away from home, and has children of his own, she never ceases. “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.” However, my favorite part is the day she calls him and asks him to come over. He walks through the door and she starts to sing, “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always…” But she can’t finish, so her son picks her up, sings, “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living, my mommy you’ll be.”

Afterward, the son drives home, and stands at the top of the stairs for a long time. He then opens up the door to his newborn baby girl’s nursery, picks her up and sings, “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.”

(Read the book online: Love You Forever by Robert Munsch.)


“I’ll love you forever…”

My mommy turns forty-two today, which is twenty years older than my sister, and twenty years younger than my grandmother. I’m currently nineteen, and when she was my age, my mother learned she was pregnant with my sister Sarah and her twin Amber. I don’t know how I could have handled the news. I would have had to give up my dreams, as an aspiring film director. She was an aspiring writer. For almost twenty years, my mother put her life and dreams on hold to raise three beautiful babies (if I may say so myself) my sister, Sarah, my brother, Jotham, and me, Jericho. Not only did she raise the three of us, she also helped raise my step-brother, Tyler, and my step-sister, Tiffany as well. Yet, her amazing abilities didn’t begin there. A year older than I am now, she lost one of her twins, Amber. Again, I can’t even begin to fathom, losing a baby girl at my age. Yet, she remained strong. She put her life into mine and my siblings', and she raised us extremely well. For that, mommy, I’ll love you forever.

“I’ll like you for always…”

When my mother was young, she was of course a special child. My grandma tells me of times when she was younger, my mother refused to go anywhere without a hat. Whenever she couldn’t find a hat, in what I’m sure was a mess of her room, my mother would grab her sand pail and wear it atop her head. No matter what my grandma said, Mom would refuse to take it off. Before long, of course, my grandmother would just let her travel around in her sand pail.

This is just one of a few things I’ve inherited from her. Like me, when she was younger, opening Christmas or Birthday presents, with a bow, my mother would take them & stick them on her head.

“As long as I’m living…”

My mother is probably the smartest person I know. Currently if she really wanted to, my mother could be a MENSA card carrier. When she was younger, my grandmother got a call from my mother’s teacher. Mom was a bright, exceptional child, well above the rest of her class. There was a day the teacher gave her two pieces of paper with homework on the front and back. My mother threw them away. The next day, he gave her more, two pieces of paper, double sided with homework. This time, my mother took them glued them together and filled out only one side of each.

Several years later, my sister recalls her elementary school informing her that she had been accepted into the Gifted & Talented Program. Not knowing what it was she told my mother, who of course was ecstatic. In the years following, my brother and I also were accepted, which of course caused my mother to beam with pride.

“My mommy you’ll be...”

I cannot think of anything more I’d like to say to my mother than, I love you. Happy Birthday Mommy.