Happy Mother's Day!!

Today is Mother's Day back home in Canada, and I'm feeling a bit guilty for being thousands of miles from home on this day yet again. I'm spending my day in Dubai, but I'd rather be back home in Red Deer instead, taking my mommy for a nice dinner.

I love my Mom. She's always been there for me, no matter where my crazy adventures have led me. My biggest dreams in life have involved moving across the world, and she's always been supportive and excited for me. When I was living in Edmonton attending college, she'd always send me back with a box full of food from her pantry. When I chose to move to Australia, she held onto my money for me, allowing me to save up rather than spend it all as I likely would have had it sat in my bank account. When I finally booked flights, she decided to join me for the beginning of the trip, and we spent 5 weeks backpacking Southeast Asia and Australia together. We faced our fears of giant spiders as we slept in tree houses in the Thailand rainforest, and navigated the East coast of Australia using only the tiny road maps in my Lonely Planet guide. During my year away from home, she transferred money into my account on more than one occasion where I'd miscalculated my budget. When I finally returned home, she allowed me to move back into her house. After only a few months of being back in Canada, I decided to chase my dream of working for Emirates. She came with me as I traveled to Vancouver for the interviews and excitedly told everyone she knew whenever I passed another round of the long interview process. When they finally resumed hiring 9 months later, after the recession had died down, I called her crying to tell her that I'd got the job. She insisted that she knew all along that I had it, and began to dream of discounted flights to Dubai. The last time that I saw her, we were crying as we said goodbye at the airport. I can't tell you how much it means to me that she's proud of me being here and that she shares my excitement. I've got the greatest mom in the world.

I love you Mom! Happy Mother's Day to you and all of the other Mom's in my life... to my friends who are new moms to beautiful babies... and most especially to my 3 amazing Grandmas, my Great Grandma, and to Ryan's mom, who has treated me like family for the past year, and invited me over for many delicious dinners. I hope that you all have an amazing day, and that you get as spoiled as you deserve to be!

December 12, 2009.... Saying goodbye at the airport before I headed to Dubai.