Happy Mother’s Day to the most special Mother of all!!

She is a Mother and a sister and a grandmother and an amazing wife to my Father (in fact they just celebrated their 51 year anniversary in April. Wow!) She is a saint, she is strong, she is smart and witty and she is the nicest person anyone could ever meet.  She has a heart of Gold! She truly does! She is a devout Christian and spends her life worshiping the Lord, and witnessing to others that need a little lift! This is my Mother, Ann Roback, and I, along with so many others have had the pleasure of having this amazing woman in our lives!

If you know Ann Roback, you know that she is a selfless, giving woman! She literally would give you the shirt off her back!  She loves to laugh and has a funny wit about her!  She is humble and she is beautiful!

She has had such a profound and long lasting impact on me and my family and anyone that has had the pleasure of knowing her.   I am blessed for the love, and the lessons, and I know that I am the person I am today because of my Mother!

She spent 29 years running a daycare in Farragut, TN, and raised most of the town of Farragut.  If we are out and about in Farragut we often run into one of the kids that went to the daycare or that she taught in school (they are adults now many with their own children).  They always come up and hug her and talk about the days they spent at Ms. Ann’s Daycare. 🙂

Prior to and after her retirement from Ms. Ann’s Daycare, she taught school to 1st graders for 16 + years! I remember the years that she spent her mornings and her evenings working on her classroom, or her lesson plan for the next day!  She wanted everything to be perfect! Her life was dedicated to ensuring the children in her class and her daycare had the highest level of care, love, and education.  She was so patient and kind to every single child that walked into her school or her home.

She also spent every Sunday for many years teaching the 1st grade Sunday School class at Church.   She spent nearly 50 years educating and shaping young Children!  What an amazing woman!

She likes the saying, “a woman’s work is never done” but she would never complain for one minute….she never seemed to run out of time or desire to care for her family. It was amazing that she could be in 10 places at one time!  I remember many years of her being on the sidelines of my soccer games, or in the stands at my Basketball games.  She was at gymnastics with my sisters, or soccer with my brother, she was cutting the grass, or running to the store.  She is wonder woman!

Few things that you may or may not know about my Mother…(hope she doesn’t mind me sharing :))

• She carries a very large purse (and I keep telling her to downsize as it weighs a ton); however the reason her purse is so large is so she can carry several picture albums with her to show to anyone and everyone that is willing, to see pictures of her beautiful family.

• There is not an empty space on her refrigerator because it is covered on the front and the side with pictures of, yep you guessed it, her family. In fact there is not much wall space in her home either as she has the walls covered (I mean literally covered) with framed pictures of her family.  She loves her family!

• She has had 5 Maltese dogs, and she always names them Sugar (so she doesn’t have to worry about calling it the wrong name). 🙂

• One of my favorite sayings that I recall her saying to me as a child ….”If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all” (which pretty much sums her up)

• When we were kids and she needed a little space she would say, “I don’t want any of you to say momma for an hour”….imagine 4 kids running around the house saying momma get this, momma get that, momma can you help me with this, momma take me here, etc 🙂

• She would always end a story by saying …”and the moral of the story is..” (she was always teaching us right from wrong)

• While she is very sweet, do NOT mess with her family.  🙂

• She spoils my Dad rotten (and Sugar her Maltese!)

• She likes animal print — literally loves it! She has a whole wardrobe of leopard, zebra, you name it; she has wallets, purses, and scarves in animal print! I even think she has a couple of picture frames in animal print.

• My Mother does not like to draw attention to herself (or our family) but we are almost always the loudest table in a restaurant! Once upon a time we were at Aubrey’s (a restaurant in Knoxville) on a Sunday after church (which means it was packed and everyone knows everyone).  My Mother left the table to go to the restroom and suddenly we heard all this commotion.  In her feverish return to the table, she had slipped on the way back (on what she said was salt).   We look over and she was on all fours trying to get up as quickly as possible. She was not injured but slightly embarrassed and we laughed about it the entire lunch!  Actually we still laugh about it to this day.

I also wanted to share a couple of comments on Facebook from a recent post that my Sister posted.  This perfectly sums up the lady that Ann Roback is and the impact she has had on other lives!

Happy Mothers Day Momma….we love you!  You amaze me with your strength, your tenacity to be kind and patient, and your deep love for the Lord even when life isn’t always perfectly fair.  You have taught us all so many values and lessons in life and we are so blessed to call you our Mother!