10 things you probably didn't know about my mom

Many of you know Virginia as a valued former co-worker during her career as an oncology social worker, as an aficionado of art, poetry, or music, as a good friend, or a distant acquaintance on social media. Let me lift the lid on a few secrets behind the woman we all know and love.

1. She can make something beautiful out of anything: shaving cream, lint, tea bag wrappers. Seriously, she can, and does.
2. She wouldn’t even consider eating cold pizza.
3. She knows the difference between a browser, an operating system, an ISP, and her email.
4. She can find something beautiful in just about anything: microscopic views of human tissue, a misshapen dress made of pretty fabric, bad kid art.
5. She can sing and play on the guitar "Leaving on a Jet Plane".
6. She has deftly eluded dozens of deadly tornadoes.
7. She can find the intelligence and presence in any living being: a chimpanzee, goats, a Galapagos tortoise, an old dog. She will make a real connection with each of them.  
8. She sees the potential in things unlikely to yield positive results: an overripe banana, a geriatric dog, a surly teenage goth girl.
9. She can put some compost and spices in a pot, add water, put on simmer and out comes potpourri.
10. She believes there’s something good to be found at every garage sale.  And she’ll take as long as it takes to find it.    Happy mother's day, Mom!