Saturday, October 3, 2009

How Did I Become This Mom?

Growing up I had Great Mom. When I was little she was a part time SAH, but then when my parents divorced she became a FTWM - in a predominantly mans field - so it kinda stopped her time for fussing with us. That happened a tad early on - 3rd grade. Now don't get me wrong - she still was THERE - she just wasn't what SuperStar might call a FrouFrou Mom.

Definition of FrouFrou Mom = one who is always there, knows the director of the event - or gets to know them during the event - brings the snack - ends up coordinating something - uses most of all their spare time coordinating some child's event - oh, and apparently they are always supposed to look nice (my mom looked as nice as I do - so who knows what that part means).

My role model was a Working Mom - Career Mom if you will. And I figured that is what I would be doing (as I have mentioned before). Now in High School I remember a small handful of moms who fit SuperStars description. Small. There were moms who were into things.....but only about 2 or 3 who were into everything. Cheerleading I really only remember 2 moms who did stuff for us on a regular basis. I can remember at the start of one of our very first games our Junior Year getting hand made hair clips with SCW on them. All done in our school colors of Maroon and White. They were SuperCute!! I mean SUPERCUTE - the kind of hair clips that a 16 year old would have worn in the 80's, but today would die of embarassment if they had to even put it in their bathroom. And I remember thinking how cool is was that the person's mom had made them for us (it was actually one of the football players moms who made them for us).

This week SuperStar and her friend MB signed up to do the clever high school Cheerleaders fundraiser. I think I posted this last year.

It runs like this: We sign our kids up for $30 a pop - they go to 2 two hour practices in a week - they receive a cheerleading tshirt - then on Friday they all perform at the high school football game until half time - they are grouped by grades and do cheers per their grade - jumps and a pyramid. They had 25 girls per K-5 = 150 girls x $30 = $4,500.00. That So Totally Beats any car wash our SCW Cheerleaders did!! So Freakin' Smart!!

Anyway.......the night of the performance it was rainy and cold - I was in the store looking for some long black pants for SuperStar to wear that night with her top and black turtle neck - the school colors are Orange & Black (in fact, the ENTIRE school district - elementaries, 3 juniors and both high schools have the colors of Orange & Black - they say it is EASIER that way). As I am walking through the store I spotted a sale on ribbon and remembered how cute all the girls last year looked who had the school colors in thier hair..........















And the next thing I knew I was becoming that FrouFrou Mom that I remembered admiring in high school. Ribbon.........pony tail holders.......scissors.......














They really were super easy to make......snip snip snip snip....knot knot knot













At first none of them looked like much. I worried that perhaps in their hair they would kinda disappear and not be noticeable........but when we put them in SuperStar's hair they popped her almost more then I had hoped - very cute!!










And it was more fun that SuperStar's "Bestest Friend In The Whole World" also wore one.......they were very adorable together.


And I had become That Mom - how the heck did that happen? A little Ribbon, a Pony Tail Holder and a pair of Scissors...

Oh, and the real big thing that made all the knot tying worth it? Well.....later when I was uploading the pics from the event SuperStar was watching. She saw the pics of the clipped ribbon, scissors and pony tail holders and said, "Wait.......you mean you didn't buy those? You made them? Great job Mom!"
Awwww............

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm soooo glad you're "tnat kind of mom!"

CB

HalfPint said...

You are that kind too you know!

Franchesca said...

You just inspired my latest blog (to be). I'll try to come back and post the comment in my head, but I'm finally inspired.. Thank you.

Franchesca said...

OK, now you deserve your own comment. It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that you are "this mom". I think if you had chosen (or been compelled) to go back to work full time, then you would have still been an amazing mom, but without that time drain, you're able to express yourself in all sorts of amazing ways. And as long as I've known you, you've had the energy and desire to do it... and it shows in your children. I'll never forget your oldest at the bake sale out there tracking down customers and racking up sales. Her energy I could only recognize as yours. We're not all "that mom", but that's ok. We all have a place. And you're the best kind of "that kind of mom" because you do it without looking down on the rest of us for not being able to. Gentle nudges and encouraging words.

I know I'm getting chatty (me??? never!), but I want you to understand what I mean. Long ago you called me to help out with MOMS Club. And I know you spent 10 minutes on the phone encouraging (very patiently) me to make a handful of calls to organizations asking for donations. Now, I realize that in 10 minutes, you probably could have made MORE than the calls that I made, but you saw the value in reaching out to me. It may have seemed like a little step, but that gentle nudge (along with other things) was part of the reason I felt confident enough to take on bigger things like Girl Scouts (which I'm still very glad that I did) and my latest success, Fall Festival.

I definitely see THAT as being part of "that kind of mom". It's the hairbows and everything they represent. It's your gift.