21. Probably one of my most special memories with my mom was when I was about 4.5. I remember sitting on the couch with her in our living room and praying and asking Jesus into my heart. I'm so thankful that I was raised in a Christian home and brought up in church. Even when I fell away for awhile, I found my way back again.
22. Mom and I have always butted heads. Even though she's one of my best friends now, we still do every time we're together. I will never ever forget the time she took me to get new shoes for church at Westdale Mall. I found a pair of black strappy sandals with a couple inch platform heels. I WANTED them. She said no. She dragged me to every store that sold shoes making me try them on. I'm sure there were some okay ones, but I was not having it and neither was she. It finally ended when I was almost in tears and she was about to explode. She told me if she bought me those shoes, "You are going to live in those shoes. You are going to die in those shoes. And you are going to be buried in those shoes!" And you know what? I wore them all the time...and I kept them for 7 or 8 years before they wore out...so sadly I will not die or be buried in them.
23. Mom always came up with very...creative...road trips for us. Generally they were fun. Places like, Makoqueta Caves, Spook Cave etc. The two most random trips we ever took were to a buffalo farm...that had no buffalo due to flooding. And to a Lock and Dam for a tour. Ya'll...we were the only people on the tour and the guy was so excited that I had a camera so I felt obligated to waste my film on pictures. Pretty sure we were the only people to ever tour that place.
24. Mom always watched soap operas in the afternoons growing up. As The World Turns and Guiding Light (Brought to you by Tide. If it's gotta be clean, it's gotta be Tide). Generally when I was little I had a rest time, but I can remember sneaking out and hiding to watch them. In my teen years I got really into As The World Turns so we'd tape it and watch it together.
25.Growing up there were always exercise fads. We had a stair master, a stationary bike and Suzanne Sommers, Thigh Master. Mom had a couple of VHS tapes. One called Calinetics (or something like that) that I'd do along with her. And of course a staple in every home with a woman wanting to get fit...Richard Simmons, Sweatin' to the Oldies. Those were some good times my friends.
26. The infamous St Louis disaster trip. The one that resulted in me leaving one kid at home who was puking exorcist style. The one that mom fell into a pot hole alone, and then woke me up to tell me she needed help, then proceeded to show me a freaking bloody crater in her arm. Next thing I know she's yelling my name and I'm on the floor because I passed out and hit my head on the wall. The one where Kendra had a horrible run, sobbed and wanted to quit. Where we had to go to Urgent Care, and James was screaming because he was over the whole day. That was the biggest fail day of our lives.
27. The year I was pregnant with Daniel, mom and Kendra came to visit and we went to Arthur, which is an Amish town. We ended up doing a driving tour and having a meal in an Amish home. We gained about 10lbs that day. Not to mention all the baked goods we brought home and ate later too.
28. One year mom and us girls went to Michigan on a trip. Mom was all about getting whatever we wanted because, "We're on vacation!" I was 21 or 22, so I asked if I could order a daquari expecting to get a judgy look. Instead she said to go for it. It was delicious. She asked to try it and had one sip. Back at the hotel, she stumbled over a suitcase and fell on the floor so we teased her relentlessly that she was tipsy even though she clearly wasn't. She was highly offended.
29. One year our family and my aunt and uncle's family did a trip to Wisconsin and we did The House on the Rock with them too. We went in search of supper, and I don't know that mom picked this place out...it was more that we happened upon a place that was open, but we ended up a Narvey's. A podunk diner with one employee. "Mooie: She served us "flies" with our burgers. In the moment we all kinda wanted to run for our lives, but later we laughed hysterically over the whole experience.
30. During our trip in Michigan we visited Cereal City. Mom and I saw it on the Food Network. It turned out to be awesome. We got a tour, our faces on a box of Frosted Flakes and pictures with Tony the Tiger and Toucan Sam.
31. The Super 8 Nightmare. I had spent a couple of days with my cousin Heidi when Daniel was about 11 months old. Mom and Aunt Jeanne came on the last night. Mom got Daniel and I a hotel room. I read the reviews and they were sketchy. Our room was pretty ragged looking. I didn't want Daniel on the floor. I figured we'd survive though (after I checked for bedbugs). Mom had earplugs in. Around midnight or later a drunk guy is outside our door yelling at someone. It just kept going and going, so I picked up the phone to call the desk...and the phone was broken! I had to call on my cell phone. Once that stopped the couple next door had some...er...R rated adult time. Needless to say I did not sleep at all that night and mom had no idea any of it went down.
32. Every summer, we'd sign up for the summer reading program at the library and make a weekly trip with mom to check out more books and collect our prizes. Once a summer, we'd go with our neighbors and we'd all ride the city bus downtown. We'd get lunch at the downtown McDonalds, walk to the library and then ride the bus back home.
33. I really don't remember 4th of July's growing up. We didn't have a set tradition that I can recall, but as we got older we started staking out a place on the 2nd Ave. Bridge to watch the fireworks. At one time we had a huge group of friends from church. We'd eat, playing games and even danced in the rain one summer. Of course, my favorite treat mom brought down were the "T--Wizzlers. Ha!
34. One year mom and dad took the 3 of us downtown on New Year's Eve for an event our bank put on, "First Star Eve" There were fireworks, games in the bank, and our favorite part...a carriage ride! As you can imagine, the 3 of us girls were hysterically laughing when the horse kept stopping to poop.
35. We always knew that if we rented a movie we'd almost always get M&M's. My sisters and I could get very competitive and GOD FORBID we one of us have more than the other, so mom would literally stand at the counter evenly dividing them into our bowls. Even after that we'd still count just to make sure it was really equal. I'd just like to offer a huge apology for that one.
36. May Day was always a fun tradition we took part in. I don't think anyone does it here anymore, but on May 1st, mom would have cups for us to fill with candy and then we'd go deliver them to our friends and then doorbell ditch them. Mom always got those Brach's royal candies...can you still taste those like I can? Mmm.
37. Oprah was all the rage back in the day. I'd watch every day with Mom. As we all know, Oprah always struggled with weight and always shared her weight loss journeys. Does anyone remember "Oprah Walking"? It was a thing. And mom convinced me to get up early and Oprah walk with her. Essentially it was power walking, and I'm guessing we did it like 2 times before we gave that one up.
38. Trunk or Treat was always a big event at Valley View and we'd always have skits leading up to it to get people to sign up their trunks. Mom and I put together a Survivor skit. She was one of the castaways and I was "Jeffina Probst". It had to be SO stupid, but it sure was fun to do.
39. Usually once or twice a school year I'd get it in my head that I was going to fake sick the next day to stay home. I'd play it up the next morning. Lay under my blankets to try to get hot. I'm sure more times than not, mom knew it was fake, but she never really said anything. Life was always a little better when you could stay home and watch The Price is Right and The People's Court.
40. My mom is one of the most generous people that I know. She doesn't do things for show. She buys stuff for myself, the boys and my sisters all the time. We get spoiled. I've seen her donate to many good causes, pay for people to go to events they may not be able to afford. If she sees a need, she does what she can to help. She has set an amazing example. Thank you, Mom.
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