"That Mom"

It’s amazing how being a Mama shapes and molds the person you were into a brand new, improved version! I am the happiest I’ve ever been and when I look back at my past there is only one thing I find myself thinking about and realizing… the type of Mama I want to be. I remember in my younger years, thinking about the cool, understanding and lenient Mama I was going to be. Yeah right. I am now recognizing the truth of the Mama that I want to and will be now and forever. I am going to be “That Mom” , as I so lovingly refer to it. We all knew “That Mom” when we were growing up. “Of course you can go to Tim’s house Ty, just wait and I’ll call his Mom to make sure it’s okay.” “Absolutely you can spend the night with Tonya, Taylor. Hold on and I’ll call her Mom and then I’ll walk/drive you over there myself.” You think I’m kidding, but I’m not. “You want to go to the movies with Justin, Taylor? Okay, Daddy and I will be ready in just a minute; we’ve been wanting to see that movie too!!” Field trips, vacations, sports outings and slumber parties, I’ll be there for them all. And feel free to send your kids to my house, because there will be fun activities for them! I will rent water slides, movies, have great food and fun for all! And you won’t have to worry about drinking, smoking or anything else going on at my house… I’m just not that cool of a Mama!!

I can hear it now, people saying to me “You have to let them LIVE sometime.” How right you are. That’s exactly what my goal is in life. To have them LIVE. I can’t control the good Lord’s plan for me or my children, but I can do my absolute best to keep anything unnecessary or stupid from happening to them as long as I have the ability. You see, in August my Ty is going to start school. 3K!! Wow! I am worried sick and completely unready for this transition in our lives. My children are not just kids to me. They are what keeps me breathing, they are what keeps my heart going, and they are the most precious gifts that God could ever trust me with. I plan on honoring those gifts and being “That Mom” for as long as possible. This means going to the school every chance I have and being completely and entirely involved in every aspect of my baby’s lives.

I hope Ty and Taylor will look back at this one day, when they’re in the position that I am in right now and say they will do these things, not TO their children, but FOR their children. God did not give me these little lives to disregard them or to be selfish toward them. God gave me these babies so that I would see what life truly is. For 23 years, my life was only about me, but that’s not life. Life is living for another. Life is having so much love in your heart that it feels at times like it might just explode! Life is family, and there is nothing more important or wonderful than my family. I will protect my family as long as I live, and if protecting them means being “That Mom”, it sounds like a wonderful person to be!