We'll always have that family connection...

This week’s Friendship Friday post is a special one in honor of Mother’s day. I’ve decided to write about my friendship with my mom. I think about this a lot because I’m always telling my older son how he’s my best friend and thinking that it stems from a connection I’ve created with my mom over time.

I could start from the basics and say that I’ve known my mom since birth. From that time until I got to high school, she just played the role of “Mom,” the authority figure in the house. My sister played the role of “friend” as we were growing up, but my mom was just that...my mom. Sure, we had lots of good times together, but I never considered seeing her in the role of “friend” before. When I was in high school, the first signs of friendship arrived when she started watching “Ren and Stimpy” with me every Saturday morning (this was prior to me becoming observant). She would even imitate Ren and we’d make each other laugh over jokes from the show. That interest later changed to “Animaniacs” when I started going to college. She even taped all the episodes for me.

We still have some TV shows in common, such as “Glee”. She’s been trying to get me to watch “Modern Family” and I finally started this week and am enjoying that, as well. There’s also “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” In the past, we both shared an interest in “Seinfeld,” “Ally McBeal,” and “Sex and the City.” (It was awkward to watch that with her though because she’s still my mom, after all.) We also have movie interests in common and we recommend movies to each other. I know that if she doesn’t like a movie, I probably won’t either. Not that I agree about everything she likes though.

Then there are books. We both love to read and we’re constantly recommending books to one another. We also share books with each other. We have some similar interests in authors, but it’s nice that there are a lot of different interests too. It helps us maintain our individuality. My mom also loves Broadway and we also like a lot of the same musicals. We’ve even gone to Show Tune Sunday together a couple of times. We have some similar tastes in music too, such as Michael Buble. (I think she even likes Adam Lambert!)

Recently, my mom (and dad) has been more interested in participating in Jewish rituals. I’ve been supporting that through the gifts I’ve been choosing for them for various holidays or other special occasions. After I took my mom to a challah baking event last fall, she’s been baking challah all the time and even teaching her friends and other family members. When she came to visit in March, we got to bake challah together again. It was a fun bonding experience.

Overall, my mom is the perfect “girlfriend.” She loves to shop (and that’s just an understatement), go for manicures and pedicures, watch chick flicks and do other girly things. We talk a lot more often these days on the phone (or on Skype) and we usually have a lot more to say to each other these days. She even reads my blog and it means a lot to me that she tells me it’s something she looks forward to every day. Her excitement over my blog motivates me to write even more! If I had been less of an angsty teen growing up, I probably would have appreciated her “girlfriend” ways even more at that time. It’s almost like we’re making up for lost time now.

Even though we have more of a friendship these days (almost on equal playing ground, now that I’m a mom and not living under her roof anymore), she will always be my mom and will always have that important honor in my life. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!