The Best Mom Ever

Ever noticed how MoM is still always spelled MoM.. even backwards?

And then just look what happens when you turn it upside down!

Anyway.. I am completely convinced that I have... and have ALWAYS had the very best WoW!

I've jotted down some memories in the past about all the reasons I think she is so incredible, which you can read about here and here, but today I just felt like sharing a couple more:

Nurturer
Here's a picture of my mom as a baby. The youngest of 12 children. You would have thought she'd have grown up spoiled rotten with all those older siblings doting over her.

Ironically she turned out to be the most selfless caregiver of all. Caring not only for her mother and many of her sisters at various stages of their lives, but her own children, her children's friends, her students, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, the homeless, the sick, the elderly... and I think at one time even my cat.

She just doesn't know how to say No. Nor would it even occur to her to want to...


"Singer" Extraordinaire
My mom has always been a wonderful seamstress. Having been rather poor as a child and then growing up during the Depression she learned how to sew her own clothes early on. Her mother had always taught her how to make garments that were as beautiful on the inside as they were on the out. Here is the pink taffeta dress she made for her 8th grade graduation. She entered it into a 4H sewing competition on a chance to win a trip to Europe but was disqualified because she wasn't yet 16.

She tried her darndest to teach me sew, however the skill never quite caught on. I did end up making a couple of Halloween costumes for my own kids many years later... but only out of dire necessity. Thanks Mom!

Here's me wearing that exact same taffeta dress in one of my theatrical productions nearly 35 years later! So it was obviously made to last. Hope I didn't trash it TOO much. If I did... Sorry Mom!

Graduation dresses, formals, recital costumes, you name it... I'm sure it must have been tons of work for her while teaching full time. And I'm not sure I completely appreciated it until I was in the midst of raising my own.


Glamour Girl and Homecoming Queen Runner-Up
She definitely should have won!

Teacher
Here are a couple of pictures of mom as a teacher which span four decades. She taught for 37 years!

My first memory of mom as a teacher was attending "Nursery School" for her Child Development class. I don't know where the other kids came from and I'm not sure how long it lasted, maybe just a couple of days or a week. But I especially remember sitting around in a circle for singing time, and playing on the wooden rocking horse that was really MINE.

But my very favorite memory from when I was a little older was when she'd let me go to school with her once or twice a year. There was an office, a cooking room, a sewing room and a regular classroom all lined up in railroad fashion and it was like over a mile from one end to the other... And after exploring I'd sit at her desk in the office and pretend to be a teacher myself.

Eating lunch in the teacher's lounge was always an awesome treat!

Mom taught at that school for 22 years and then transferred to a brand new one as department chairman for another 15 years. I remember how much she loved those orange counter tops in the cooking room. And they WERE pretty awesome! In the new school she pioneered one of the first "On Your Own" curriculums ever I think, teaching her students all about the logistical facts of life. There were budgets and weddings to be planned and I think also a few babies.

It was here where I learned not only how to operate a mimeograph machine but also how to appropriately color code and organize every imaginable thing!

She loved her students and they loved her! I remember more than once hearing that a new student was so excited to have her as a teacher because of how much her mom had loved being in her class!

I was able to attend her retirement dinner in 1986 and it was quite the tribute! What a touching event it was in celebrating 37 years of a wonderful career! And that was 20 years ago! She's lived right I guess!

Everyone's MoM
And I mean that when I say it.

It wasn't unusual for our home to be filled with a dozen kids after school on any given day. And we didn't sit quietly and play video games back then. No. but we'd tear everything out of the cupboards and dress up closets and every nook and cranny imaginable!

She was always the one to host the the birthday parties, the pre-dance gatherings, the swimming parties for all the kids from church and eventually many of my cast parties. I'll never forget one afternoon during the summer of '69 when our living room was "the place" where over two dozen teenagers witnessed man's first walk on the moon!

And when she wasn't hosting she'd be chaperoning... Girl Scout trips to the mountains or Catalina... beach trips with the youth... taking her Primary students to the park... or Knott's Berry Farm. I'll bet she doesn't think I probably remember the time that we all played hide and seek on that little island across the road from it... or the time we dared her for nearly two hours to just jump off of off that playground structure into the sand, which she eventually did! What a game girl!

I could effortlessly name several handfuls of friends who at one time or another have called her "MoM." Did I mind? Not at all. It truly always made me feel really proud. Like I had a really, really special one. Ya know?

MY MoM!
Funnest day ever! Just HER and ME!

I took this one of her...


And then she took this one of me...


Negotiator
I'll never forget the time my MoM got caught going 30 mph in a 25 mph zone. Where after going back and taking a picture of the posted speed limit sign (completely hidden by a conglomeration of tree branches) she took it to the judge... magnifying glass and all! Needless to say she didn't hav'ta pay.

I so seriously wish that I had that picture!

Orchestrator
Family Hawaii Cruise of 2008... Need I say more? But in the end? It was the best time ever!

Writer
Ok, so she didn't actually write it, she made darn sure that everyone else did! And then she put the whole thing together! And what a great tribute to her own parent's legacy it is!

I hope that everyone lucky enough to be blessed with a copy of this book reads it! I have to admit that once I started I couldn't stop. No, seriously! That must have taken a whole lot of work! And a whole lot of love!

Grandma
Grandma of 16 and Great-Grandma to (oh my gosh I don't even know how many!)

But what I do know is what a GREAT Grandma she's been to mine.


I could never have done it without her!

Always there through the thick and thin... and sticky. If not for Grandma I am certain my kids would have never experienced the wonderment of sugar easter eggs... and multitudinous other messies...


And it's just been such a comfort having MoM so close by for my kids who now live so very far away from me, with never the lack of an "Omelette for a Crowd."

Grandma's house is just special! From the 'scary' pictures in the bedroom downstairs to the Celestial Living Room just above. Along with the early morning musak...

And I Also Want to Thank Her Again... for this:
Because she probably thought I was a complete and utter weakling after this experience. But I want to thank her so much for being there for me! For holding my hand through it. And also for supervising all those nurses...
I was somehow thinking about this just the other day and suddenly remembered that it wasn't just me all alone in the delivery room the morning my precious little second child was born, afterall.

And then I got pretty much choked up on that humungous memory.


Wife and Soulmate
The love of his life and vice-versa...
I swear... Probably one of the best matches ever made to date on the face of this planet! It's rather amazing really!

And if my siblings will allow me to speak for them as well, I think that we would probably ALL say how happy we are for them and for all of the precious and priceless things they have managed to discover together!

A match definitely made in Heaven... for all Eternity and even way beyond if that's even possible. For sure!

Ya know, it's really hard to try to express it all in this one little blog entry. And I realize this has been pretty long as it is.

But thank you MoM, really. For being the best one ever! Then, Then and NoW.

I Love You! I Do!


Happy Mother's Day Mom!