My mom had knee replacement surgery 8 days ago. We have been told that this type of surgery has one of the hardest recoveries. Fortunately, once the surgeons started to operate they realized they only had to do a partial replacement. Mom was not looking forward to the surgery itself, but she was looking forward to finally having her knee stop hurting so much.

My mom is an amazing person... always caring for others, taking care of everyone else ("Do you want a drink? I can get you a blanket. What do you want from the grocery store? Are you too cold? What do you want for dinner?") and now, she was going to have to rely on other people to take care of her during the recovery. She was not happy about this. She likes to be the one to take care of everyone, and she is very good at it. My husband teases me because my mom took care of everything when we were growing up- she even made my bed for me when I was in high school! I'll never forget when my older brother, Scott, came home from college for the first time during his freshman year, my mom thought he looked so different.... then realized it was because his clothes weren't ironed....everything we ever wore was always perfectly pressed. Still now, while her children are adults and 2 of her 3 children have their own children, she takes care of us. She mails me coupons & comics that she cuts out of the newspaper, empties my dishwasher without me asking when she visits, and loves to care for her grandchildren. She is the ultimate care taker.

I drove into Houston late last night to spend the long weekend here with my parents to help my dad take care of my mom. She is walking with a walker and is doing physical therapy several times a week. Right now, she has a cool pack on her knee and has a machine that moves her leg for her for hours at a time while she tries to rest. This afternoon, I was able to make her some lunch, fill the cool pack, and log her medications. According to her physical therapist she is doing remarkably well. I wish that I could do more, but it feels really good to be able to help the person that would drop everything at any time to help me (and has). It's hard to see your parent in pain.

I can't wait to hear how she feels in a few weeks as she is recovering... I am certain that she will be glad that she did the surgery. My brother Scott and his family are coming from Virginia to visit in August and my mom can hardly wait to see them... Piper will be just over 3 years old and Ryan, 10 months, when they visit. Our other brother, Rick, and me with my family are coming to visit for part of their trip so we will all be together for a few days. What an incredible time that will be! Even though Mom can't move very fast now, I can envision her in 4 weeks when we are all together... baking homemade cookies or doing crafts with Piper, chasing & tickling Ryan, playing super heroes with Luke, going on walks with Sam, and once again, serving and taking care of every one else. Mom is an amazing woman who is strong, considerate, and full of love, and I'm so proud of her.