1. She thinks because she didn’t go to college she’s not as smart as some people. Truth be told, she’s smarter.
2. Mom’s the best judge of character.
Camilla at a floral arranging class in 2012.
3. She doesn’t hesitate to pinch me under the table when she thinks I should shut up.
4. Kids at family gatherings surround Auntie Camilla like she’s Mary Poppins.
5. In nearly every holiday photo we have, Mom wears an apron.
6. She’s 100 percent Italian so there is always more than enough food.
7. She wanted to be a dental hygienist, but she and her sisters had to work to put their brother through college. In retrospect, she should have pursued the career anyway considering the amount of money she’s spent on her teeth over the years. The amount is staggering.
8. No one is better at customer service than Mom. (She called me last week to Google where to buy commercial ovens in Providence for people who just walked into her store because they thought she sold them.)
9. She has no idea how funny she is. (Yes, I know this sentence is grammatically incorrect.)
Mom, Russell, Paige and her Apron on Christmas Day 2014
10. She treats my brother and me like we’re still 10 years old, but she also treats her little sister, who is 60something, like she’s 10.
11. She makes no apologies for being a control freak. It’s a cross we who love her must bear.
12. Mom feels guilty that I’ve inherited her ankles, bad circulation and arthritic knees, so I always have her sympathy when I feel sore.
13. She treats my father and brother like it’s the 1960s so she thinks I should be more Laura Petrie than Laura Raposa. (I told you she was funny.)
14. I love to make her laugh.
15. She always brings treats — albeit healthy ones — in the car when I drive her to a doctor’s appointment in Boston.
16. It takes Mom an hour to eat one lobster and she savors every bite.
A lobstah? There will be nothing left! (Note the apron.)
17. She’s never decorated a cake in her life, but can advise customers on how to do it like she’s the Cake Boss.
18. She’s “hates that Facebook” but she’s on it every night so she won’t miss any photos of “the kids.”
19. She’s had an iPhone for a year and still cannot retrieve voicemail. But the woman can text and add emoticons like a teenager.
20. Mom insisted she help me bake for 400 people in the bakery at Lees Market last September even though she worked all day and had leg pain. Oh, she also brought dinner.
21. She’s got a big heart and is the most generous woman I know.
22. My mother has lived in Rhode Island and Massachusetts since 1960 but hasn’t lost her Maine accent. (It adds a little bit of Moxie to everything she says.)
Laura Petrie
Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! With love from Your Daughter
Tags: #22thingsiloveaboutmymom, #happymothersday, #iloveyoumom, #Mom, #thecakeboss
I LOVE THIS!!! Happy tears. <3
Laura, thank you. I don’t know what to say. The unexpected is always so special. Love mother
Such a loving tribute, Laura. You really should think about writing as a career. Camilla: I didn’t know you were a Down Easter. Where’d you hail from?
Mom grew up near The Oaks in Portland.