Happy Birthday!

I have been blessed in the course of my life to have not just my own (amazing) Jersey Mama, but many other mother figures in my life, as well.  One of those people is my ex-husband's mom, Melanie.  From the get go, and certainly from the start of our marriage back in 2002, Melanie has always referred to me not as her "daughter-in-law", but simply as her daughter.  Even after the divorce, she has never let me or my kids go.  She has made herself a valuable part of my life, even telling me that I completed her family.  She is not just a Mom, she is one of my very best friends and a fierce crusader for my boys and even for me.  She has brought David into the family and accepted him as one of her own.  She taught me about baking, gardening and sewing.  She is smart, beautiful, kind, funny and loving.  Her and I love to spend time together and I think we bring out the ornery streak in each other!  It's been joked we shouldn't be allowed to sit by each other at supper tables!  She has always welcomed me and mine into her home and never makes me feel like a burden.  She.is.amazing.  Yesterday was her birthday!  So, please join me in wishing this incredibly lady a Happy (belated) Birthday!  Love you, always and forever, Mom/Grandma Faraways!

Eri, David, Nathan and Joshua

Reasons my husband should have been sainted #1

My husband is a great guy.  He's steadfast and strong and ferociously protective of our family.  He also shares my interests in serial killers, gore and the macabre.  So the other day when he asked, "Hey, didn't the Son of Sam kill a cabbie?" I was super delighted, but also a little pissed because he was wrong.  Before I could even get a glare fired off, I had barked "no! Zodiac killed a cabbie!"* in a super annoyed fashion.  So he's awesome and he gets me, it's just that he hasn't evolved to my level of creepy.

*It's worth noting that Son of Sam *worked* as a cabbie, but he didn't kill one.