Remembering the Good Mom Stuff

*When I was just a tot, I'd get to stand up on a chair pushed up to the kitchen counter to watch her cook. And I thought she didn't know when I poked my little finger into a bowl to get a taste of what she was making.

*Going shopping to choose fabric for new dresses that she sewed for me to wear to school. Yes, I'm that ancient. Yes, I have the sewing machine that she used to make them.

*Realizing as an adult that she didn't do well with the sight of blood, a feeling of gratitude to the mother lioness in her that bandaged me, and my siblings, so many times when we were hurt.

*She showed up. With great pride. For pretty much anything and everything us four kids participated in.

*The benefit of the doubt she gave all of us, as long as we were honest with her. I know I was pretty unusual among my friends, particularly as a teenager, that there were really no secrets I kept from Mom. In exchange for staying out of trouble, I was granted privacy.

*When none of the other moms were willing to lead my Camp Fire Girls troupe, she volunteered. A single mom with four kids who worked full time took the time to do this for eleven year old me.

*In April 1995, Mom and I went on a road trip to see the Eagles Hell Freezes Over concert. She loved their earlier, more country-rock music and wasn't quite prepared for the later and louder rock they performed. She was a good sport about the noise but didn't approve of bass player Timothy B. Schmidt's long hair. Nor did she like Glenn Frey's two-toned black and white loafers. She did get a kick out of the fact that Don Henley was wearing a henley shirt.

*When my elder son, Michael, was born, she declared him just perfect. Four years later when Reid was born, she declared him just beautiful. And to differentiate herself from their paternal grandmother, she encouraged the boys to call her Crazy Grandma.

*Years before she became a grandmother, she wanted a motorcycle. We discouraged her from getting one. She said she wouldn't bake cookies for her future grandchildren, but thought it would be cool to drive up on her Honda and take them for a ride.