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With Mother’s Day fast approaching, I figured it would be timely
to write a bit on being a mother. After all, without my three
little darlings, it wouldn’t even be a holiday for me. Well,
except for the fact that I have a mother with whom I would
surely celebrate, but the day wouldn’t be about me, which is the
way it should be. Jordan recently posted a blog about her little
two year old daughter, Emmy, and listed some of the things she
loves about her. This has inspired me to do likewise…I will
write a bit about each of my children, listing their most
positive attributes! I shall begin with Ryan, my first born (and
no, Jordan and Alex, it isn’t because he’s my favorite!) Back
when they were little and were up in arms over some injustice
concerning a sibling I would always say “Well of course Ryan
gets to stay up later, we’ve always loved him the most!” or if
Jordan was the object of scorn it would be “Of course she gets
to go to town with me, we’ve always loved her the most!” And on
and on…as if a mother would say that and mean it…they knew I was
kidding and I still continue to say that when the occasion
arises. But back to my reasons for thinking my children are
wonderful.
Ryan…as a first born child, everything Ryan did was new and
exciting and I always thought he was very smart and clever. But
the thing that has always stood out the most was his sense of
humor. Not everyone gets it, but strangely enough, I do. The
kids might come home from school and one would tell me about
something that happened on the bus, and it would be humorous,
then Ryan would come sit down and tell the same exact story and
have me in tears, laughing so hard. Jordan especially, would be
offended, wondering why when she told it, wasn’t it as funny? I
don’t know for sure, but part of it was the delivery. Ryan would
have a goofy grin on his face as the story began and (as his
friends can attest to) he probably embellished the story a bit
to add some life to it. Sometimes, he didn’t even get started
telling a story and I would be laughing. That sense of humor has
stuck with Ryan throughout childhood and now adulthood and I
think it is his best trait. Now, I will have to balance that
with something that irritates me about him. He has always had
nervous tics…whether it be blinking his eyes rapidly, dragging
his foot when running, rubbing his cheeks raw (this when he was
a toddler) it seems there is always something he is doing when a
bit nervous. I can just imagine Dick’s expression if he is
reading this. He will say that I do the same thing…I am always
picking at myself in some detrimental way. But that doesn’t mean
that I like it! And now a special memory of Ryan. Let’s
see…there are many, but one that sticks out in my mind would be
the big “Daily Plainsman” spelling bee, held when Ryan was a
second grader. This contest was open to all school children in
the area, no matter what school you attended, so I sent in an
entry for Ryan. He was a pretty good speller and the prizes were
actually pretty nice. We got out the good, old, trusty Blue
Speller book and studied for a few days ahead of time. There
were a couple of words that tripped him up, but on the whole, he
knew most of the words for his age group. When the big day
arrived we went to the Huron Mall and he was sectioned off with
others his age for the written test. The top 20 were culled out
and went up on stage for the oral spelling bee. I was out in the
audience, my heart pumping with excitement because my little guy
was up on stage, ready to compete! The spellers who weren’t all
that smart were quickly eliminated, but Ryan was still hanging
in there. Finally, it was down to 2 children, Ryan and a little
girl. They went back and forth, spelling words correctly until
the girl got the word “autumn”. Sure enough, the “n” at the end
tripped her up. I practically got up and did a jig because that
was one of the words I had drilled into his head! If he could
spell it correctly, he would be the 2nd grade champion! Ryan
stood up to the microphone and rattled the word off like
nothing…it was a proud moment! But he was more interested in the
prizes…I forget what most of them were, but he did get a $100
gift certificate to spend anywhere in the mall that he wanted,
and a set of World Book Dictionaries. He had a blast picking out
toys and got his picture in the paper. I see that all the
spelling practice has paid off later in life with the Scrabble
games that he participates in.
Now, on to Jordan, my second born. I think my favorite thing
about Jordan is that she is so much like me! We have the same
tastes in TV shows, clothes, home décor, and food. It is fun to
visit with her on the phone since we can talk about nearly any
subject and agree on it…this wasn’t always the case, however. I
know that back in high school I ruined her life on a weekly
basis with something I said or forbade her to do. I didn’t like
some of the clothes she wore and she didn’t like the things I
picked out for her. Most of the boys she liked didn’t meet my
specifications…I remember calling one of them a greaser and
offending Jordan to no end, but now that she’s clear headed I
think she totally agrees with my assessment of this young man!
If I want a truthful opinion on anything, I go to Jordan…for
instance, if I’m considering wearing something, but wonder how
it looks, I know better than to ask my husband. He’ll say
“whatever”…Jordan will actually tell me if my panty lines are
showing, or if you can see my rolls of fat underneath. If I
think I may want to paint a wall orange, it does no good to ask
a male…I go to Jordan and get her opinion. She will tell the
truth and that’s what I want to hear! And we both are into
fattening foods and then trying to lose weight. She’s usually up
to date on the best “Ben and Jerry’s” in the store. A valuable
trait! But, she does have her flaws and since I pointed out
Ryan’s, I had better do the same for her… (so he doesn’t think
I’ve always loved her the most!) The most irritating thing about
Jordan is her carelessness…when she was in high school she was
forever locking the keys in the car, letting the car run out of
gas, driving off with the gas nozzle still in the car, that sort
of thing. She has lost her cell phone numerous times, misplaces
her checkbook, doesn’t get things lined up to leave until the
last minute. Now that I think about it, I am the same way. I am
a procrastinator…I put off paying bills until the last minute,
think about what to make for supper fifteen minutes before it
should be served…I have lost my cell phone, glasses, keys to the
Post Office. Hmmm…..I guess I shouldn’t complain about Jordan
too much! I would be remiss if I didn’t list Jordan’s birth as
her most memorable moment…she was due on November 30th, the same
day as my mom’s birthday, but decided to come a day early and on
the way to the hospital. We ended up having to stop at a church
parsonage at 6:30 AM and wake up a young family, begging to come
in to have a baby! Jordan wasn’t waiting around; she popped out
moments after we arrived, much to the horror of the three small
children watching from the hallway. I think I have told this
story in an earlier column, so won’t go into gory details, but
it was definitely one of the most exciting things that has
happened to me thus far in life. We made the front page of the
newspaper and were celebrities for a day, thanks to Jordan and
her lack of procrastination in this instance!
And last, but certainly not least, is my little guy, Alex. He is
probably the one that was the target of much of the “unfairness
squabbles”…”you always let Alex do this or that”…”Well, of
course, we’ve always loved him the most!” He really could get
away with murder because he had the cutest smile. He would do
something rotten and then smile up at me and I couldn’t resist
how cute he was. I guess my favorite thing about Alex is that he
is so likeable. I don’t think there’s anybody who doesn’t like
him…he is easy going, kind of quiet, but still a fun guy. It
takes a lot to get him ruffled. I think you’d get the same
reaction out of him if you said “Hey Alex, look!!! You just won
the Power Ball Lottery!!” or if you said, “Hey Alex, remember
that car of yours that you lent me last night? Well, it doesn’t
look quite the same this morning”….He’d probably say “whatever”
to either situation. I like to try to get him riled up and
threaten to embarrass him by doing something totally stupid like
wearing a bikini to his high school graduation or singing a solo
in church or something like that. I just get “whatever” out of
him. As a youngest child, he has learned, just as I did, not to
let others know when they are getting to you. If your brother
and sister knew how much you hated a certain nickname, for
instance, they’d never give it up. But when you don’t react,
it’s no fun anymore and Alex learned that at an early age.
Things just don’t get to him! Now, for something about Alex that
irritates me and that is: he refuses to wear a seat belt. Why???
What is so hard about pulling that strap across you and buckling
it? He has been stopped by the police once or twice and gotten
ticketed for this offense, but did that convince him to wear
one? Just a few days ago, I told him he’d better buckle up when
we were together in the pickup. He didn’t think it was
necessary. I told him how he could fly right through the
windshield and be killed. He assured me that he wouldn’t fit
through the windshield so there was nothing to worry about.
Alex, you could STILL be killed by hitting the windshield even
if you don’t go through it! ARRRGGGHHHH…now THAT is something he
gets from his dad who also neglects to buckle up. He
occasionally grabs it and pretends to be wearing it when meeting
a highway patrolman, but I doubt he’s fooling anyone. So this
time, it’s Dick’s fault that a child of ours has a fault. A
favorite memory of Alex…let’s see…there are many, but one that
sticks out is when he was but a wee lad, maybe 5 or 6 years old.
At that time we had two houses on the farm, a trailer house
which Granny was living in and the farmhouse which we lived in.
The trailer house had a deck with a sliding glass patio door and
for some reason, Alex decided it would be a good idea to take
his BB gun and press it directly against the glass and pull the
trigger. I guess he was aiming at a red straw hat of Granny’s
that was hanging on a doorknob right inside the house. That
little BB totally shattered the glass in that door, but it
didn’t fall out, it just stayed there looking almost like a
stained glass work of art! Alex was scared. He ran home and hid,
afraid of what we would say when we found out. In his defense,
the old BB gun he was using only fired a BB once in a great
while. You might pull the trigger 100 times and 99 times nothing
would happen. But this time it did work and he was scared! When
we got home and heard what had happened, he looked at us with
that irresistible grin and it was impossible to be mad. And when
he told us that the target was that goofy red straw hat, I
couldn’t help but laugh. The glass was removed and the gun put
away. All was well that ended well…the straw hat lived to see
another day and Alex escaped punishment again…well, we always
have loved him the most! Just kidding…
All in all, we’ve got three pretty good kids despite our lack of
parenting skills. I hope all these kind words written here will
inspire aforementioned children to remember the day that is fast
approaching, Mother’s Day!!!!!! After all, don’t you want to be
the one that I’ve always loved the most???!!
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