A is for: April Fools

April fools is a great deal of different things to everyone. To the common jokester it is an excuse to pull pranks for cheap laughs and hardly any slack. For teachers I imagine it can be a nightmare; when I was in high school a bunch students decided to park their cars so they were blocking all of the teachers cars in the teachers parking lot. I remember the principle coming over the speakers and threatening that all the cars would be towed by noon if they were not moved. To some it may just be another day and others it may be a day of fun and playfulness- which almost all of us need just a little more of in our lives whether we care to admit it or not.
To my mother however it means something completely different. Going back before my birth my mom had been diagnosed with endometriosis; now I wont go into the medical descriptions but I will say that endometriosis has a strong correlation with infertility. This was a huge burden on my mom. Coming from a family of seven children including herself she had dreams of having her own family. The circumstances at the time are irrelevant, all I will say is that my mom tried for a long time to have children of her own; she even went through fertility treatments but it seemed nothing was going to work. After a failed marriage my mom ended up dating my dad; it was by some chance or miracle and complete mistake that I was somehow conceived and nine months later on April 1, 1992 I was born. I am the first of three children in my family and I am damn proud of it. To my mom April fools marks my first glimpse of the world and her first miracle baby.
My dad has always been stern on the fact that April Fools ends at 12 noon and I can say I have only had one prank pulled on me in all my 22 birthdays. I sometimes forget how important today is for my parents and how wildly proud they are of the women I have become; though as of late my birthday feels almost entirely just like another day and holds hardly any meaning for me anymore, I am touched when I remember the path my mom had to travel to get to me. And I can not thank my mom enough for being the most wonderful influence a girl could ever ask for.
Today for me is not just a silly day full of pranks but I love that my birthday lands on such a playful day. What does April Fools day mean to you?