My Built-In Best Friend

If you were to look through my recent calls list on my phone, "Mom" would probably appear on the list more than any other name. If you were somehow able to find out which word comes out of my mouth the most, I am 95% sure that it would probably be "Mom." (Well, that and antidisestablishmentarianism. I just love saying that word!)

MOM!!! I should call my mom. I bet my mom would know. I can't wait to tell my mom! Where's Mom? Is Mom busy? I need Mom. My mom would love this. Mom, I don't know what to do. Mom, can you help me? MOM, will you PUH-LEASE hang on and let me finish?! (and my personal favorite..) OhmyJesusMaryandJoseph, I am just like my mother.

My mom is awesome. Even that is an understatement. My siblings and I were given an INCREDIBLE childhood. Every birthday was treated like a national holiday and there was always a party going on at Casa de Cacibauda. We had Back To School parties, Summer parties, Just Because It's Saturday parties. Our house was one of those houses. You know, the one that all of the neighborhood kids spent their time at. Toys everywhere, music playing, and always a bunch of loud, wild kids running in and out of the house. Oh, and the wonderful sound of someone screaming/crying and yelling, "HE/SHE STARTED IT!" Yep. That was us. Never a dull moment. Never.

I have ALWAYS been a mama's girl. Lord help anyone that ever tried to take me away from my mom. Throughout my ENTIRE senior year up until the day I left for college, I constantly heard, "I can't believe you are going so far away from your mom! You know she can't drive that far every time you miss her, right?" Ahem. WELL. First of all, 4 hours isn't that far. JT is 14 hours away, so the Cacibauda clan is familiar with the whole distance thing. But I guess if you're not going to junior college, everyone thinks you are going far away. And second, my mom probably wouldn't drive up every time I missed her, but I'd bet a million bucks that she would already be halfway here by the time I even finished telling her that I needed her here.

Why? Because that's just the kind of mom she is. And even though I always wanted to roll my eyes every time someone asked me how I would survive without my mom, I wondered the same thing. I was surprised at how easily I adjusted to being on my own, but then I realized I'm not really without my mom. She's still my go-to girl. Bad grade after studying all night? Call mom. Happy, exciting news? Call mom. Positive that I don't know what I'm doing and feel like my life is in shambles? Helllloo, mother. Even though she just about always has an answer, I don't always need one. Sometimes after a long day of failing miserably at everything except embarrassing myself, I just want to hear a familiar voice. Does that make me feel like I'm 5? Yep. Do I care? Nope. I used to just roll my eyes (ya know.. I think I roll my eyes a lot. oops.) every time I heard, "One day your mom is going to be your best friend," but it's SO TRUE! I didn't even realize it until our phone conversations went from talking about laundry and how to cook something, to dating and the adventures of non-girly Alexa living on a hall of girls.

Having a mom as a built-in best friend is great. Okay, most of the time. Is it great when I'm at home and she's telling me to get my stuff out of the living room for the 75th time? Uh, no. I mean really, who wants a best friend like that? Just kidding. Kind of. :) But I can gossip, vent, and ramble about a boy if I feel like it, because really.. who is she going to tell? Well, besides anyone that asks, "How's college?" Before I can make a sound, her and my sister appear out of nowhere and chime in as if they have been living up here with me. She loves it! She's studying Elementary Ed. Yep, all grown up.. she only misses us sometimes. SHE'S LYING, SHE LIKES A BOYYYY. 

But that's okay, she's pretty great so I think I'll keep her around. ;) I might as well take notes, because I'm her spitting image. My attitude, uncooperative curly hair, and stubbornness all comes from her. You can thank her for my sarcasm too. :) But I think she gave me some pretty great things too, like her independence, and a big heart full of good intentions. I can only imagine how much more alike we will become as I get older, if that's even possible. I think I'm okay with that though. If I can at least be HALF as great as she is when I'm a mom, I'll be okay for sure.

Happy Birthday, Mom. Even though sometimes you only get to see me rolling my eyes at you or throwing a fit about something silly, I still remember to count my blessings every night as I'm falling asleep. And you're always at the very tippy top. :)

I love you to the moon and back!

PS- Dad, if you're reading this, I know Mom can't take all of the credit. But it's not your birthday. :) xoxo