motorcycle mama

None of us would be here without a mom. 


Even if she walked away, had her life cut too short by tragedy or illness, or slowly drifted off sometime in our childhood, she birthed us. In this modern world where women are given choices about that kind of thing, the bearing alone is a blessing. 


I am one of the lucky ones whose mom gave more than life. 

my groovy parents

With the day for moms approaching, I keep reminiscing about the hazy days of my childhood. 


My mom came to my kindergarten class on Halloween dressed like an old man, and she never told the kids who she really was. All day long she played the old man role, and I loved being the only one who knew the truth. 


My mom was the only woman on the church softball team. For a long time she was the only woman in the league. She and dad played raquetball for years, and we belonged to Raquetball World when I was little. She ran marathons in the early ’80s. In the ’90s she got a mint green Cannondale bike and cycled alongside my dad and my brother. 

mom, my brother, and brand new me March 1976

My mom let me get my hair permed like a disco queen when I was five, and had the lady cut it Farah Fawcett style when I was eight. Most of my clothes were sewn by her own hands, and I picked out all the styles and fabrics myself. 


One hot summer day when I was seven years old, we swam way out into the Pacific at Corona del Mar. When the waves picked up I was terrified, but Mom kept her cool.  Slowly, we made it back to the shore.


I don’t remember a single soccer game or track meet she didn’t attend and cheer for me with passionate enthusiasm. 

the whole family, circa 1982

My mom worked full-time at an office job, then full-time at home every night. I don’t remember seeing her sit much at all, honestly. 


My mom began having hip pain when I was in college (maybe all that not sitting took its toll).  It took years for the doctors to figure out that she needed both of her hips replaced.  My mom had one done, went through months of excruciating rehab, then pushed every bit of dread and fear in her heart aside and went through it all again with the other hip.


A couple of years ago, my mom- by that time the grandmother of my children, learned to ride a motorcycle. She broke her leg doing it, but she got back on that bike. Now she rides with Dad through the canyons of Southern California on the weekends. 


There has never been a day in my life that I didn’t know that a phone call from me would be the best thing that could ever happen in her day.   

mom, dad, and my sweet kiddos spring 2011

Moms like mine can be hard to find these days. She didn’t just teach me things, she showed me how to live. Her example proved the value of taking risks, making sacrifices to love your husband and kids, and that life is best lived out there in the great big world. 


This year my Mother’s Day prayer is that we would all be moms who live each day like it’s the most important one. May we teach our children how to live by embracing our own lives with everything we have in us.


Thank you, Mom, for loving Dad, me, and Cody with your whole heart. I know there were lots of times I took you for granted. I hope you know that it was only my lack of awareness and not any lack of love that caused that ignorance. 


 I love you very, very much, and I am a better mom because of you. 


I think I’ll go call you now.  >smile<