Super Mom

When I first started my blog my best friend Jennie asked me how I had time to do it all. At first I was surprised, then I started thinking about all the roles I play. Let's see...I have a full time job, I am raising a husband and a daughter, 2 dogs, and 11 + horses. At some point I like to fit in the gym, tanning, maybe a vacation here and there, visit my family in the Mid-West, take care of the house the laundry, swimming lessons for Madeline, doctors appointments, vet visits for the Mangy Mutts, grocery shopping, pay the bills, maybe attend a horse show, and now a blog. When you put it that way....it does seem like a lot. But as women when we mature and start to build our families we seem to develop go go gadget arms. The more you give us, the more we can do. But I think these skills are learned quietly and slowly by watching and subconsciously mentoring the mothers in our lives. So with Mothers Day around the corner I decided this was a perfect time to pay homage to the Super Mom in my life.

The most important super hero in my life is my own mother. (Sorry if this offends the other moms in my life, but she is my mom and will always be the boss of me.) I firmly believe my mom developed her super powers at a young age. She was the oldest of 6 and from what I can gather my Grandmas right hand man. (Interesting fact: My Maternal Grandmother has 2 grandchildren born on her birthday and now a Great Grand Child....the Mad. :) My mom went to college after me and my brother were born. She worked a part time job, went to school, and raised two children. She was the first person in her family to get a college degree and after she graduated she starting teaching elementary school. From there on she has been a surrogate mother to a new group of 1st graders for 20+ years I believe.

Growing up my mom was our biggest fan. She took us to all our activities, albeit 10 minutes late most of the time, but none the less we arrived and we conquered. She made our baby clothes, our birthday cakes, and Halloween costumes. She cried when the cookie monster costume she stayed up all night making was lost in the mail. She sewed patches on my ice skating skirt and barely complained when I quit a week later. She cheered the loudest at all our concerts, horse shows, soccer games, and piano recitals and didn't seem the least bit embarrassed when my brother did karate in the middle of the soccer field instead of paying attention to the ball. She cried with me when boyfriends broke my heart, girl friends became catty, and stayed up all night with me the night we had to put my first horse to sleep. She tolerated and barely survived my temperamental teenage years, and hardly batted an eye at my sometimes disastrous early 20s. She had faith. She knew given enough time, and experience I would find my way back home and settle into the woman I was meant to be.


She planned my wedding long distance and has become known in our circle of friends as the ultimate party planner. It is not uncommon for my friends to reach out to her and ask advice or use her to vent about their own mothers. All my friends are her friends on FB and she routinely comments on their activities and takes as much pleasure in following their lives as she does her own kids.


And she was there the day Madeline was born in an event she calls the most amazing day of her life. She stay up all night with me the night we brought The Mad home and while I tried to comfort a screaming baby, she comforted her own sobbing daughter. She tore apart the wedding dress she made for herself and used the material to make a baptism dress for the Mad. She cried the night she took it apart and then smiled and cried tears of joy when she saw Madeline wear it.


My mom is nothing like your typical grandma. She swims, water skis, rides roller coasters, shows horses, goes to the movies, and concerts. When she answers the phone sales people ask if they can speak to her mom. She and my dad hold hands while they are driving in the car and she insists that everyone have a car umbrella. (for those who don't know that is an umbrella you keep in your car in case if rains.) She loves Travis as if he were her own son. She has become very tech savey and has an iphone. She emails, facebooks, text messages, sends pictures and videos. And not just to me....to everyone in her life! My mom has a knack for making everyone feel loved!


My journeys have taken me and my family all over the country but the constant in my life is that my mom will find me. :) She never hesitates to hop a plane and visit for an extended weekend. With a grandchild in the picture we get to see her and my dad about every other month. If it gets to be too long since I have come home you can bet mom will call and gently remind me that is it time for visit!

I have been blessed with many strong, loving, and inspirational women in my life. My Best Friends Sara and Jennie are a constant reminder to me that as women we have the ability to influence, and change the world around us. Sara will run in her second race this May to raise money for the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society. She is one of Madeline's God mothers and when the time is right she will be a phenomental mother to her own child.

Jennie is a full time stay at home and has given our country the most precious gift of all. She shares her husband with the military and spend half of her life raising her daughter on her own so that her husband can defend our freedom. Peyton will not only grow up with a father as a hero, but also knowing that her mother is a hero in her own right. There family sacrifes their time together so that mine can lives in peace.

My mother in law raised her family on a shoestring budget but you would never know talking to Travis. She dedicated her whole life, and still does, to making sure Travis wanted for nothing. Now she provides us with the greatest gift she could ever give to us, she takes care of our horses. She is the barn mother to not only the four legged kids but to all of Travis friends, their neighbors, boarders, and any critter that may need a home in the area. It is not uncommon to find their house full of people who stopped in for a visit and stayed for dinner.

To be able to surround my daughter with phenominal women is the greatest gift I can give her. It is my hope that Madeline will someday grow up and think that I was half the mother to her that mine has been to me. If she were to love me half as much as I love my own I will have succeeded in this life. Hug your moms extra tight tonight and every night going forward. Moms are blessings and gifts that we never outgrown.


"My Mom is a neverending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being. I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune"

Happy Mothers Day! Erin