This won't be easy.

Sometimes opening up here on the blog is hard work, because you begin to feel so vulnerable for putting yourself out there. Then you are shown love, and respect for being "honest" and not sugarcoating everything.
So I'm here to tell you, my life isn't perfect. Shocker!

As most of you know, a few months back...I revealed some pretty difficult stuff from my past. That list included some stuff about my mom. You can read here. So why am I sharing this this morning?
Two days ago, I woke up to a text from my mom...telling me she bought a plane ticket to move home. After well over a year and a half of living in Hawaii, she was ready to get her life together and be a part of our lives again.

I won't go into the details of her living situation, but it wasn't glamorous, trust me.
I worried about her every day, and every single night before bed, without forgetting, I'd pray for her. I prayed for her to be safe, to be happy, and for God to touch her heart and ignite something in her that made her want to come home. You might call me selfish for that last part, because she was finally happy where she was...but I missed her too much. I missed my best friend.

My goofy brother and mom.

We had that relationship where I could tell her anything. She and I would run to McDonald's on a school night at 11:30 PM because we were both craving Sweet Tea like nobody's business. She was the mom to make me laugh so hard I cried, and have sleepovers with me in my bedroom.

She was the mom to help me make up excuses when I didn't want to go out with friends.
She was the mom to curl my hair because I didn't know how.

Who let me see rated R movies before I was 17. The one who would challenge me to eat an entire LARGE 3 way at Skyline (you Cincinnati bloggers know how big it is!), to drive me to my first job, and who didn't judge me when I made some of the stupidest mistakes in high school. She's the mom who made it home for  arguably the biggest day of my life, and celebrated with me all week long.

She is the mom who is coming home tomorrow.
I know it won't be easy, or immediately back to how it was, but I'm excited to start a new chapter in my life with her in it. I'm excited for Caleb to actually have a relationship with his mother-in-law. I think it will be fun. I'm all grown up now...and we are both different people. I know there will be nights full of laughter, and some tears of healing as well. As rough as this journey ahead may be, I'm excited.

Mom, if you read this, I want you to know I'm here for you...and I love you, with all my heart.
We're so proud of you. Thanks for coming home.