My Mom

So I realized that with all that is going on I’m not going to be able to post every day with a nice story about family and friends. I’ll have to settle for every day or so. Up next is my Mom. Those of you who know my Mom know that she’s about as devoted to her kids as someone could be. She truly loves her three kids and has extended that love to her two grandkids who call her Nana.

When she was pregnant with me, she had really bad morning sickness. The problem is that she had it all day long and all the time. When she went to the doctors, and you know how much she loves them, they warned her that if she couldn’t keep something down, she was at risk for losing me. She finally found that she could keep down beer, potentially due to the hops. This meant that I was referred to as a beer baby every now and then. Knowing how much I drink nowadays, that’s pretty funny. I have another funny kid drinking story, but I’ll save that for when I get to my Grandpa Wes.

One of my favorite memories as a child was going shopping with Mom. She trained me at a very young age about finding the best deal. I would say that has translated to a much higher shopping threshold than the average male. I always refer myself to the shopper of the family because Sarah isn’t so fond about spending hours in a mall. One of our favorite shopping activities was going to the football card shows at the Holiday Inn near Fair Oaks Mall. For those of you who watch the Simpsons, imagine a whole room full of Comic Book Shop guys trying to pawn off packs of cards to throngs of little kids. Mom also loved to help us sort cards when we got back home. For awhile there she knew most of the active players in the NFL just from looking at those cards.

But probably my favorite childhood memory of my Mom is one that didn’t end up being applicable. When I was a teenager, she mentioned to me that if I discovered I was gay when I grew up, her and Dad would still love me and support me. That’s a sentiment that’s rarely heard today, and judging from some of my gay friend’s drama with their family when they came out, it would have been a welcome sentiment. It just goes to show that my Mom loves us unconditionally, regardless of what we do or become. I love you Mom!