My Mum

February is pretty much birthday central for my family, so this next post is about my Mom, or ‘Mum’. I believe my siblings and I switched from saying Mom to Mum while we were living in England, and the name has stuck since. Everybody says they have a cool mom, but I think my mom is the coolest. She was born in Tennessee, but grew up in Rochester, NY. She was valedictorian and then went on to Cornell University. It was there, during her senior year that she met my dad. According to my mom, my father appealed to her because he already knew what he wanted, and he was doing everything in his power to achieve it.

In 1974 after graduation they got married and moved to California. My father was in a PhD program at CalTech. In 1977 they had Catherine, they moved to Princeton where my father got a job; in 1979 Dean was born. They took a 5 year hiatus from kids though, until Mary in 1984 and me in 1986. According to my mom, only one of us was actually planned. She refuses to tell who was planned. I think it has to either be Dean or I; I’m guessing Dean, but who knows?

My Mum can do so much, and does anyone ever hear her complain about it? Nope. I know a prime example, but I only know it from stories. When I was six-months old my family moved to Austria. My father was already in Austria, and my Mom had to take the four of us, with twelve pieces of luggage across the Atlantic. This is a funny story, because Mary ended up walking off by herself in JFK (she probably saw a shiny bauble) while my Mum had to change my rosy fresh diaper. My Mum handles all our vacation plans, travel arrangements, shopping, cooking, cleaning, and she works two jobs. Her salary is what got us all scot-free of student loans! Basically she works very hard, just to make sure the rest of us live a little easier.

But not too easy…

If there’s anything thing my Mum (and my Dad) hates is laziness, complaining, and whining. We learned from an early age that complaining would get the opposite of what we wanted; whining might get a laugh and a stern “stop it”. As for laziness, if my Mum came home one too many times to see us watching TV or playing video games we could be assured we wouldn’t see either of those things for weeks. My Mum taught me to work for myself, and not let other people do things for me (something she might have to re-teach me after I return from the overly-hospitable Georgia).

But really, not only has my Mum given me ideas for a classroom, she spent hours making file folder games to use in my classes because I told her there was a lack of resources. Now if I could only get a chance to use them instead of this tedious read and translate teachers are so fond of. Still, her advice when it comes to teaching is second to none. She truly can do everything. Despite her busy life, she maintains prominent positions within the church (including serving as Relief Society President twice), and has gladly left for weeks to help my sister-in-law, Lora while Dean’s away (though it also might just be to hang out with grandkids, we’re not too sure yet.

So here’s to my Mum of her birthday. Georgians will want to drink on this day, but I say “I’m sorry I can’t, my Mom doesn’t drink”.

Love,
Thomas

P.S. My Dad’s Birthday is on the 12th, so get ready for some more of this.