"I'm not going to tell you all of my problems, if you are going to stay up all night and lecture me all day!" I told my mother when I was sixteen and then once again last week. "I'm your mother. It's my job to worry. Flood me with your problems." she said.

One of the driving forces (beside my hubs) that got me through this tough year has been my mother with her constant advice, love and attention. "How is this tough? You have a loving family. A house. Incredible children. An amazing husband. There are people in this world without that."

"But, Mama. I never imagined starting all over again in my mid 30's."

"I did and I was fine."

Touche. My mother in her 30's convinced my father that life outside of Communism was better and with the $300 my father made scraping metal in Austria for months, it was just enough money to start a new life in the USA with the help of Catholic Charities for plane tickets.

I can not imagine taking my children overseas to live in a foreign country with $300 in my pocket. It makes our "life changing" trip from Cleveland to Chicago seem pathetic. Almost laughable. Not even comparable. And that, my mother's confidence for a better life, was one of my biggest driving forces to do the same for us. Thank you, Mamusia. Our lives are a million times better off then they were a year ago.

We've come a long way, and I would have never made it through, without you around.

Happy Mother's Day, Mamusia. My Mama.

When we moved into our Chicago house last summer, everyone in our 'hood was on vacation and my kiddos had the alleyway to themselves. I coined the kiddos as "monkeys in the alleyway" because it was such a new concept for them and they hung out there all summer waiting for some action. They just couldn't get enough of owning the alleyway and having the freedom to do whatever. Like this...

We thought that this (a totally free-from-traffic alleyway) would be the ultimate slice of childhood heaven to do everything a child wanted to do without a constant adult presence (an adult whom was within reach but far enough for some independence). What child wouldn't want to own their own alley? But boy, we were wrong. The warm spring weather, these past few days, brought in hoards of children from both sides of the street, all meeting in the middle - the alleyway. The after-school scene in the alleyway is like out of a movie from the 50's. Children play until they hear their mother whistle "Dinner time. Come home."

It's so surreal. It's so weird.

I've happily witnessed (sans camera & iphone photo evidence) my kiddos begging for just "one more minute" and "please just one more minute!" so they could finish their alleyway shenanigans with their friends from the 'hood after THREE HOURS of play.

Life in the alleyway is pretty cool.