2 posts tagged “mama”

I'm gonna make these bigger...

 

 

 

 

These are some pics I took at a welcome center somewhere in TN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are just random pics taken by my daughter.

 

 

 

 

These are just random pics my Mom took as we were driving into NYC. I just told her to grab the camera and take pictures. I was so focused on driving I couldn't even THINK about anything else! Driving there is absolutely crazy!

 

 

My Mom at the welcome center in Tennessee. We both went potty and then just walked around...and I kind of ventured off with my camera to take the previously posted mountain pics...Tenessee was really beautiful and we even saw some snow in Knoxville. Virginia, however, is an entirely different story.

 

I've realized that I've blogged quite a bit about my Father. He has just been on my mind a lot since he recently passed away. I'm still trying to deal with it. It still seems not quite real.

But I just wanted to take a few moments to highlight my other parent: my wonderful Mother.

My Mom was a beautiful young woman and when I look at pictures of her in her 20s and 30s I'm jealous. She was beautiful. She had the perfect figure, her hair and makeup were always immaculate and classy. She was, and is 5 foot 7. My Mother sewed. When my sister and I were children she made all of our clothes. We often wore matching outfits. She went all out for Birthdays and Christmas. I learned my tendency to do the same from her. My Mom was a great cook and to this day I make certain dishes that I ate as a child, created by her.

For many years we had an almost estranged relationship, only talking randomly (despite living in the same state ALWAYS), getting together for holidays and special occasions, sending the obligatory cards in the mail. But she was always supportive of my children and would try to come to anything they may be participating in. The same with my sister's children. But these events were sporadic and few and far between.

And then, a miracle happened!

My daughter started high school and began marching in the Homewood Patriot Marching Band as a Freshman. My Mom, of course, agreed to come to a game and see the band perform their half-time show. I figured she would only come to one game...boy was I wrong! Our first game that year was an away game so I invited her to come to our second game, which was at home. She came, loved the band and loved the football game too. We won and Mike Shula was there checking out the talent for the University of Alabama. The next week we had another home game. I had talked to her earlier that day and she said she might come but I didn't think she would. I was there, sitting by myself and all of a sudden there was my Mom sashaying into the stadium. From that point on she has been with me. Each week we would go to games at home or travel. For away games the band travels on 5 charter buses. Everyone had to meet at the school. My Mom would meet me there and we would follow the buses. In that first year we traveled all over the state to games and competitions. We even had a championship game in Mobile (which is about a 5 hour drive from Birmingham). I wasn't quite up to the drive and the school had added a 6th charter bus for parents so I bought us each a seat for $25.00 each. We became closer and closer and she fell absolutely head over heals in love with the band and with football! She told me that she felt like going to the games had taken 10 years off her life. She told me that it had rekindled her love of football. She learned the names of the players, she learned the plays, she learned the bands show by heart and we bought DVDs of them so we could watch them over and over again. My Mom and I became a team! We went to strange stadiums and climbed up stairs together to find our seat next to the band. We had our 'regular' seats at our home stadium. We talked on the phone about stats and playoff brackets and how awesome the band was. The 2005 season concluded with our team going to the state championship game. It was absolutely freezing! We had multiple coats and hats on and were still shivering but it was still fun as hell! We watched the band in awe with tears in our eyes knowing it would be the last game of the year. It was great!

More to come in the 2006 football season post....

Here's a picture of my wonderful Mother with my daughter after a band concert...

 

 My Mom can be seen in many of my videos of the band. She's the pretty blonde gently bobbing her head to the music. You see she's deaf in one ear so she really has to listen hard to hear the little nuances that most of us take for granted.

Here's a particularly cute Mama moment that I got on film during the 2006 season: