In Greenwood, the Greenwood Commmonwealth (newspaper) always does a huge front page special on a "Mother of the Year." Well this year us girls and daddy decided to nominate our mother, bc let's face it... she
IS 'Mother of the Year!!" I knew there would probably be a slim chance of her winning bc there are probably families who have been submitting their mother's for years, but we did it anyways!!
Momma, we know you had no idea we did this, but here is our submission for you, as Mother of the Year!!
Where do I even begin? My mother has always gone above and beyond her call of duty, in every aspect of her life, be it mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend, co-worker, etc. As they say, you never learn to appreciate things until you get older and boy do we have a lot to be thankful for. You never realize just how hard it is to get everything you need to do, done, in one day after working 8 hours of it away, especially with children. I don’t know how she has stayed sane raising three daughters.
She started her journey as a mother 28 years ago, when Ann-Hamilton was born. I came a long three years later. Then 10 years later Eleanor came along. She is now a sophomore, soon to be junior, in high school. Where most parents with children, mine and Ann-Hamilton's ages, have had empty nests for quite a few years, she is still attending every function in the town of Greenwood, with a high school daughter. And in the last two years, she has gained two son-in-laws, Ryan and Kendol, who she treats like her own. And let’s not forget precious Hayes. Five months ago, Ann-Hamilton and Ryan had a precious baby girl, so she can now add “Grandmother of the Year” to her resume as well. I cannot describe the kind of devotion my mother has for all of us. She is like superwoman. I have no idea how she does it all, but I just hope when the time comes, that I am even half of the mother to my children, as she is to us.
Let’s do a little recap: She has been through 22 summers of softball, most of the time being the coach or at least a base coach during games; about 10 years of gymnastics practice 4 days a week and gym meets all over the state on the weekends; 24 years of dance practices, recitals and competitions; 15 cheerleader tryouts, not to mention all of the practices, camps, pep rallies and ballgames; 8 years of sorority events at MS State and planned two weddings. Not to mention all of the other random activities we have been involved in over the years. And most recently, on top of everything else, she has taken on Eleanor's adventure into the world of competitive cheerleading in Grenada. Yes, over this past year she has found time to travel to Grenada during the week for more cheerleader practices. I don't know how she manages, but she still finds time in her busy schedule to come see Ann-Hamilton and I in Brandon, often. You would never know we lived 2 hours away with the amount of trips she takes to come spend the day with us.
She has never missed a thing for any us and all the while, she works full-time and for the last 8 years has lived 20 minutes from town. No matter how hectic the day might be, she always had dinner on the table, and no matter how hectic the week might be, she always finds time for the most important event of the week, church! She has always made sure we were in church on Wednesday night and Sunday morning. She also finds time to answer her phone with all of the thousands of questions we call her with. Whether we're asking for a recipe or trying to get a stain out of something, she always knows the perfect answer and always makes time to talk. We talk about everything. Not only is she a mother, but she is a best friend to all three of us girls.
The best parenting advice her and my daddy passed on to us is, "remember who you are. Whatever you do today, will reflect not only you, but us as parents in the morning." What a perfect way this was to teach respect. They told us this, every time we left the house and still do. If that doesn't make you think about every little action you make, I don't know what will. Other extremely important things they have instilled in us are to always have dinner as a family, at the table, pray hard and be in church on Sunday morning.
What a blessing she has been to us over the years and continues to be, in each of our lives, daily! She is the most selfless, supportive, encouraging, understanding, patient lady in the world and fortunately for us, we are lucky enough to call her Momma!
In her spare time, what little she has, she loves to read, smock, be at the pool and work in the yard.
I could really go on for days about what all she does for our family, but I believe I have hit most of the highlights!!
Happy Mother's Day to our Mother of the Year!!!
(More like Mother of the Quarter Century, to me)
Happy Birthday tomorrow!!
and Happy 32nd Anniversary and Retirement in just a few short weeks!!
WE LOVE YOU
DADDY, ANN-HAMILTON, CALLIE AND ELEANOR!!
