60 Memories With Mom--Part One

In honor of my mom's 60th birthday coming up on Sunday, I decided to write 60 memories with mom. I'm sure I've shared some of these before, but always worth retelling. Instead of writing all 60 in one post, I decided that I'll share 20 for the next 3 days.

Here we go, in no particular order because I'm too tired to put anything in chronological order.

1. Growing up, we knew there was one summer event we could always count on. Adeventureland! Mom stuck it out every single year even though she can't ride most rides because of motion sickness. She was the designated bench sitter and keeper of the things. She packed a picnic lunch that we'd outside the park and rest before going back in. She even hung our socks from trees the year that they got soaked on the Raging River.

2. Going to see Garth Brooks together in Omaha. When he "retired", I always said he'd come out and when he did we were going. Mom (and Kendra) was a trooper. Don't think I'll ever go to a 10:00 (which didn't start until almost 11:00pm) concert, but it was amazing and I'm thankful we could be there together.

3. Going to see Casting Crowns once and Reba McEntire twice at the Iowa State Fair. Always a semi good time. Ha! The concerts are great, but the people are many. And this past summer, I dang near died of heat stroke, but Reba was worth it.

4. As kids, mom and dad would take us to different state and county parks to go hiking. In my mind we were epic hikers...when in reality we were just walking on fairly easy trails for the most part. Mom always carried a backpack with water, dixie cups and granola bars or fruit snacks. We'd inevitably be STARVING within 10 minutes.

5. Every summer we knew that we were going to be eating like queens...because mom would take us out for lunch a few times a week. McDonalds, Burger King and Hardee's saw a lot of us. Meals usually ended with, "Don't tell dad what we had for lunch or we aren't going to be able to go as much" Hahaha! Our lips were sealed.

6. Coming to almost all of my home swim meets and in town away meets. Even though I felt more nervous with her and dad there, it always made me feel good too. She drove me home every night from practices. And my favorite one was the year we got back from a meet really late. I called home for mom to get me (pre cell phone days). She picked up the phone, but said nothing. I told her we were back. I heard a grunt and a click as the phone disconnected. I waited in blind faith that she'd show up, and she did.

7. Ahh. The infamous driving lessons with mom. Two. That's how many times I worked on driving with her. The first time resulted in me turning into a snowbank and getting stuck, followed by yelling and crying. The other resulted in me backing up wrong and me getting out of the car and yelling that I was "never driving with her again!" I still make her drive when we're together. (Honestly...I make anyone drive if I'm with them).

8. One year we did a trip up to Wisconsin. I was a bratty pre-teen who didn't want to go look at any stupid leaves changing colors (I know. I'm appalled at young me too), and threw a fit we were going to a place called The House On the Rock. It turned out to be amazing. What was not amazing was the cabin/hotel we stayed at that looked like it came right from a horror movie. We of course blamed mom since she reserved it...and honestly it was fine, but we've never let her live that place down.

9. When Daniel was a baby, Kendra and I declared one Saturday night, "Faturday". We started off alone by getting pre-supper (a HUGE slice of Sabarro pizza). Then went to HyVee to get junk food to eat after supper. We had cake, brownies and raw cookie dough. Mom was so excited, but we decided to wait until after dad went to bed so he wouldn't judge us. Haha!

10. World Changer mission trips with the youth group were the best. Most people wouldn't want their mom's with them on a trip with your friends, but I loved it. Each time was a new adventure. We went to Effingham, IL, Nashville, TN (where mom drove myself and 3 other girls in our Crown Victoria with the trunk sagging because of our stuff.) And of course Youngstown, Ohio. Mafia town. Glad we lived to tell about it!

11. Mom taught us the fine art of sneaking food into the movie theaters. I carry that tradition on. Shh.

12. Every Wednesday night during the school year,  you could find mom at church with us girls. We had the AWANA program, and she was always involved as a leader. Because of her, she made memorizing Bible verses and books of the Bible easy. We would work on them all through the week and I was one of the first kids to finish all of the workbooks because of her working with me.

13. In elementary school we had a Fun Fair each year and mom always volunteered to make a cake for the cake walk. She always made something cool to go with the theme. My favorite was her Under the Sea cake that had a whale on it. I thought I was so awesome.

14. The time mom and I literally stalked someone one day for fun. It was as ridiculous as it sounds and we even bought disguises (ie: sunglasses and hats). We sucked at it though, so our PI work fizzled out.

15. The year we went to Florida, there were things at our condo we could borrow like boogie boards. There was also a giant inflatable banana, which we somehow convinced mom to ride the waves on. It was hilarious!

16. When I was little, mom was the Dean of I believe Jr. High Camp at Spring Valley Bible Camp. I got to go along with her, and I pretty much thought I was awesome because she had a name tag that said Dean, and I had one that I proudly wore that said, "Little Dean". I'd stand up on the stage with her. I followed her everywhere. And the best part was when, Ted, the camp director would let me ring the bell for meals!

17. Late night talks. When I first started thinking about it, I was thinking of all those times when I was in high school, and I'd come sit in the dark in my parent's room. Dad would usually be snoring and mom would be waiting to hear about whatever adventure we had come home from. Sometimes, she'd come out to the living room or still be up so we'd chat out there. Those late night talks never have stopped. Every time I'm there visiting we end up staying up way too late chatting and laughing. Even miles apart we chat several nights a week online too.

18. Family walks. Mom and dad both LOVED to go on walks. I didn't always appreciate it, and as I got older got to stay home, but there are good memories from those walks. I once got a puppy to follow me home. I really thought they'd let me keep it. Erica and I would make up games or play "Slug-a-Bug" And the very best times were when people had their sprinklers going and the water would hit the sidewalk. We always were allowed to run through them and cool off. Mom even had her own concoction of bug spray made with vanilla, so we always smelled good too.

19. Summertime meant pool time. Mom got us pool passes each year and I'm pretty sure we spent almost every afternoon at the pool. Rarely could we buy concessions, but she always had fruit snacks or pretzels for us. I'm sure she loved her break from us while she laid out in the sun.

20. Our church did a women's event every year called the Lady's Bus Trip. Generally this was reserved for adults, but mom broke the mold and got permission for me to come along. I know I went on at least 3 trips. She'd usually invite my Grandma Thatcher along too. I really felt like big stuff getting to hang out with all the adults, and I'm glad that I got to be a part of those adventures.