Sunday column: Mother's Day

50 great things about Mom

Today is a special day just for moms, when they get to be the center of attention.
My mom has always shied away from the spotlight, so it could shine on her children instead.
That’s why today I want to share 50 things just about her and how wonderful she is.

1. Mom and Dad met when they were both students at LSU-Alexandria.
2. They dated until Dad broke it off because he wanted to see other people.
3. He got mad when Mom started seeing other people, so they got back together.
4. When Mom and Dad got married, Mom weighed 100 pounds.
5. She drove a blue Plymouth Duster that Dad kept in the garage for years. Sometimes, we’d all pile in and go for a joyride on the weekends.
6. Mom says she still feels guilty for how strict she was when I was growing up.
7. But Mom really shouldn’t feel guilty.
8. I know she just did those things because she loved me and wanted to protect me for as long as she could.
9. Every night before bed, Mom would read to the four of us kids.
10. Mom made our play clothes when we were little.
11. My favorite outfit she made was black fabric with neon spiderwebs all over it.
12. When I graduated from college, Mom bought me a Singer sewing machine.
13. Mom got into a wreck on the interstate with the four of us in the van and even though no one was hurt, for years afterward, she wouldn’t drive on that particular stretch of interstate.
14. One time I gave Mom and Dad some bad news, and Mom suggested we go to Sonic for some ice cream. That was the right thing to say.
15. When my brother was a freshman at the public high school and rode the bus to school every day, Mom called him her hero.
16. He was the first one in our family to go to public school.
17. The reason my brother went to public school is because his classmates at the private school were a bunch of jerks.
18. When my brother got into a fight and punched one of those jerks at school, Mom didn’t punish him.
19. When I was in high school, but before I got my drivers license, Mom used to take her lunch break at 3 p.m. so she could pick all of us up from school.
20. I wonder when she ate lunch that year?
21. Before she went back to work full-time, every afternoon after school, Mom would have a snack waiting for us.
22. We also had a chore chart.
23. Mom and Dad used to load all of us up on the weekend to travel to visit their parents.
24. I’m glad they did.
25. I’ll do the same for my kids, so they can know their grandparents.
26. When Dad got sick, Mom helped him get better.
27. When my husband got sick, Mom did the same thing for him.
28. Mom never gets sick.
29. When she was a stay-at-home mom, she would compulsively rearrange the living room furniture.
30. One time, she even moved a chair while Dad was still sitting in it.
31. Mom’s not happy if any of her children aren’t happy.
32. She blames herself for everything.
33. She shouldn’t do that, because she is a terrific mother.
34. One Christmas I traveled to visit some relatives, and my cat escaped from my car. Mom helped me search for her for hours in the pitch dark.
35. When we couldn’t find her that night, Mom and I spent the night at her sister’s house, even though we weren’t planning on staying overnight and didn’t have a change of clothes, so we could look again the next morning.
36. After all that searching, when we still hadn’t found her, I remember Mom saying, “Sometimes, bad things just happen.”
37. Ten days later, my cat showed up out of the blue.
38. In all the many, many moves I’ve made, Mom has always been there to help.
39. One time when she helped me move, she hurt her shoulder and I felt so guilty. After that, I never let her help me move any of the heavy stuff.
40. Mom always focuses on two things when moving: Getting everything out of the truck, and getting the bed made.
41. Last weekend, when I helped my best friend move into her new house, I found myself doing those two exact same things.
42. In my early 20s, when I went through an intensely painful time of loneliness, Mom was the only one who could make me feel better.
43. During that same time I came down with severe bronchitis, and from hundreds of miles away, Mom found me a doctor and made me an appointment.
44. Mom always tells me, “Never give up.”
45. She makes homemade birthday cake for everyone’s birthday.
46. Mom always let us be ourselves.
47. I can always count on her to be honest with me — about anything.
48. Mom is wise enough to realize that it doesn’t really matter how many earrings you have, what kind of music you listen to or what your hair looks like.
49. Mom has great taste in music, and she was a rocker back in the ‘70s.
50. When I become a mom, I hope I’m just like her.