A lifetime with my mom

I only had my mom for 15 years. I miss her every day. She was an amazing woman. She loved Rolos, Revlon's Heather Silk nail polish and Hitchcock movies. She loved baseball and sewing. She never met a stranger. She loved people and they loved her. Even now, people still remember her and tell me stories about her. She had an infectious laugh and used it often. She had a beautiful singing voice (that clearly skipped a generation). After losing her sister to cancer, she quit smoking cold turkey, was president of the Mothers' Clubs at our high schools, a member of the church choir and a bowling league. She taught me to think of others, always lend a helping hand and a smile. She taught me that being happy was more important than being rich or right. Money doesn't matter. People matter.

I wish I had a lifetime with her but she gave me a lifetime of memories.

MOPS

This year, I joined MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers). Where has this been for the last 7 years? For those of you unfamiliar with this group, it is a place to find friendship, community, resources and support for mothers so you are not alone. Moms have found community through MOPS for almost 40 years. MOPS holds and shares the collected wisdom of mothers and experts. We meet twice a month, have food, conversation and fabulous guest speakers. If you have a child between ages birth and 5 and like to meet fellow moms and eat good food, check out your local MOPS chapter.

I've met some great women and been inspired by our speakers. The best part? The mommy mess up. That's right. If you are willing to stand up and tell an embarrassing moment as a parent, they reward you with a huge chocolate bar. Any group that gives you chocolate as a condolence prize for being an imperfect mom is tailor made for me. I've gotten that prize a few times this year. I put my child in time out and forgot she was up there. I forgot to pack her lunch. I've yelled at the wrong kid by accident, to name a few of my finer mommy moments.

The women in my group are diverse and interesting. There are parents with 5 kids, special needs kids, adopted kids, step kids, you name it. There are stay at home moms, working moms, older moms, younger moms. We get together, chat, support one another, make each other laugh and inspire each other. I brought dinner to a mom who recently had her 5th child. When I stopped by her house, one child was doing home work and 2 were playing quietly together. Lucky for her, my kids stopped by and created total chaos and anarchy. As she and I chatted, her oldest came up, stood quietly by her side and waited. When there was a pause in the conversation, he politely said "excuse me". True story! This kid actually waited patiently and didn't interrupt. I was floored. I think she needs to have 6 more kids because she is clearly doing something right. When we left, all her kids thanked us for stopping by. I'm trying to convince this tired and busy mom that our kids need to spend more time together. I'm hoping some of that will rub off on mine (and not the other way around).