One year for my Birthday, while I was in the USAF, she sent me a card that read......"I think you're swell!! I think you're nifty!!! That's why I sent this card instead of a Gifty!!!" CRACKED ME UP!! Sooooooo, for the next Christmas. I think this was around 1988....... I sent her a Christmas Card that had a Bum flipping off with both middle fingers, with a cigarette about to fall out of his mouth, that read......."Life is tough. Times are hard. So here's your friggen Christmas Card!" I honestly was not totally sure how she'd handle it. My Step Dad said she busted out in hysterical laughter and showed the card to all of her neighbors.

Fast forward to about 20 years ago, she sent me a Birthday card that had a very old man from a photo taken in the early 1900s. The old guy had a cane and a very mean looking scowl on his face. On the front of the card, it read...Here's your damned Birthday Card!! Open it up and it read....."Now sit down and SHUT UP!! To this day...THE best Birthday Card I have ever gotten. Funny thing is....I found the same card and sent it back for HER Birthday. That turned to a 6-7 year tradition. About 7-8 years before she passed, she had a local Baker who could impose photos on cakes, make my Birthday Cake with that old man. The cake read "Happy Birthday!! Now Shut Up!!"

Yep. My Mom is the one who taught me to laugh at life.