Timeout California

Happy Birthday, Mom!

It’s rare when I can surprise mom because let’s face it, moms know everything—especially when you’re planning and plotting. Luckily for me I had distance on my side, so a sneak attack was actually possible in this case.

My mom is a special lady, but I didn’t always know this. As a teenage girl everything my mom did annoyed me. But then again, at that age everything seems to annoy you. I could never understand why my mom always had an issue with the outfits I chose or harped on me for having proper manners or always made me do things on my own instead of doing them for me. I hated that she was always working and instantly went to sleep when she came home. I was annoyed that she didn’t make my lunches like all the other kids’ moms did during that time. There was a lot I couldn’t understand back as a young, naïve person.

But now I get it. It’s become clear to me that everything she did was for me—to give me a better life, to make me the best person I could be. Don’t get me wrong, she still has that uncanny way of finding the one thing that will irritate me to no end, but I’ve learned to let it go.

So, when there are opportunities to give just a little back to my mom after all she’s given me, I try to take advantage of them. I may not have been able to afford the surprise party she wanted this year, but it was great to see her face when I walked into the house at almost midnight the night before her birthday. Mission accomplished. For the first time ever, I was able to pull off a surprise for my mom and it felt good.

My sister and I took her to her favorite spa for facials then rounded up the family for a fancy dinner at Raya in the Ritz Carlton. My very talented friends made her an awesome purple cake that was both pretty and so yummy. It was a great way to just celebrate my mom on her day.

While I was home I was able to have a short visit with LT and an awesome breakfast with RM, RMJ and SJ at Stacks Pancake House, an amazing Hawaiian breakfast place. I highly suggest a visit to this place if you’re ever in Mission Viejo, California.

Although this trip was way too short, it was much needed. I find myself wishing I was home more often and every time I leave it gets just a little harder to board that plane.