Shifting Gears

Today is Ralph’s 37th birthday – I’ve already wished her greetings by phone and she was looking forward to a relaxing morning away from her beautiful daughters – a pedicure was on her agenda and probably a relaxing cappucino before putting in the afternoon playing nurse at the clinic where she fills in.

At the beginning of parenthood I said I wanted my kids 4 years apart so they weren’t in high school or college at the same time – I actually missed the 4-year mark by 15 days and when you consider they went to Greenwood, they both were in the upper level together for a couple of years.  But I did dodge the bullet on 2 in college at the same time – Tammy graduated just in time for me to start paying tuition for Ralph.  I remember my gift to me at her graduation was a new bicycle!

Like her sister, Ralph has been a joy to have for a daughter.  Her personality is very different from Tammy’s and she definitely inherited her left-brain tendencies from me although after getting a BS in Accounting she quickly figured out (pun intended) that the life of a CPA was NOT for her – hence the BS and MS in Nursing that now allow her to be Nurse Ratchet according to her sister.  I try to stay really nice to her since Tammy always says she’ll have Ralph take care of me when/if I’m old and feeble!

Ralph’s most annoying tendencies come from the fact that she can take half a day to eat a candy bar and sometimes size 0 jeans are “just too big”!  She is a petite firecracker with a quick wit, more sarcasm than Tammy and I can even consider and big brown eyes that she has passed on to Julia and Lydia.  She is a gourmet cook who scoffs at my bottled salad dressings or store-bought graham cracker crusts.  She’s adventurous and has traveled a good portion of the world living in Springfield, KC, Okinawa, Chicago, Iowa City and now Des Moines.  She’s more of a risk-taker than I’ll ever be and has a thirst for reading and knowledge that she shares with her big sister and me.

What makes me the proudest of being her mom is what a wonderful mother she is to my granddaughters.  She makes parenting look so easy – she has incredible patience with the girls and is so engaged with everything they do.  She really can’t imagine leaving them for someone else to raise while she works although she does work occasionally just to keep her skills fresh.  Both Julia and Lydia are blessed to have a mom who is so caring and loving – she does me proud.

So Ralph here’s to many more years of enriching the lives of your family and friends – and thanks for following in your sister’s footsteps and giving me so many opportunities to wear my “proud mom” look.  Happy Birthday – I love you.