Mother’s Day has always been one of my favorite holidays to celebrate, even before I became a mother. I can’t think of anyone who deserves to be celebrated more than BOTH my parents, but I will save the daddy stories for Father’s Day! Today we’re talking about the strongest woman I know – my mom strong mommy! My mother is my hero, she is one of a kind, and I’m so lucky to be able to call her MY MOM!
From every rodeo and basketball game to every play and award ceremony my mom was there. Even when she couldn’t make it she was there in spirit and I knew she was proud of me! My mom always taught me that I could do anything that I wanted to do and not to be scared to reach for the stars. I have learned so much from my mom, not only about the type of parent I want to be but about the person I want to become because she somehow manages to do everything, even when it hurts.
Growing up, especially in my teen years I lost my way and didn’t care as much as I should have. I was too busy feeling sorry for myself and looking for friends. Gosh, if I could go backward and just let my mom know that I loved her I would. Since I can’t, phone calls at all hours of the night will have to do, lol. Anytime something happens with the kids, and it reminds me of something I did to my mom I call her up, most of the time crying, telling her how sorry I am to have caused her so much pain. I also realize now just how lucky I was growing up.
You know I have never heard my mom give up, EVER until about two years ago when my sister was heavily drinking and almost died several times. She ended up in the hospital where they helped my sister detox in a safe environment because she would have died had she done it on her own. Honestly, I don’t think she could have done it on her own – in the end it didn’t matter, she was going to do what she was going to do. All I remember was the sound of my mom’s voice; she had given up, she basically started accepting the fact there was nothing she could do to help my sister, and it broke her. I had never seen my mom break, it scared me so I decided to somehow get my sister to rehab because my mom didn’t have any more fight left in her.
I finally told her “listen, please go Lorena, we want you around.” I told her that I would come pick her up, I found her a place in a rehab near where I live so I could go visit her, and I told her if she ended up hating it and didn’t get anything from it she could call me and I would take her back. I told her there would be no hard feelings I just wanted her to try. Surprisingly she agreed but I wasn’t going to believe it until I had her in my car. However, to my surprise she was there, packed and ready to go. WOW, this is happening.
I called my mom and filled her in on what was going on. I didn’t want to tell her before I picked up my sister because I didn’t think she could handle getting her hopes up and something going wrong. When I told my mom, she sounded relieved, thrilled, and I believe that it helped restore her faith a bit. She said she had been up half the night thinking about all the right things that could happen rather than focusing on the bad like she had been earlier that day. She told me she didn’t know what was going to happen but that night someone made her feel like everything was going to be okay and that it was okay for her to get some sleep. She never gave up on my sister; I just caught her at a weak moment but she never stopped, and she will never stop – it doesn’t matter how hard it is to deal with, she will dig deep and deal with it. She is honestly the one person in my siblings’ and I’s life that we know will always be there for us, even when we don’t deserve her. She has never given up on any of us, and I know she never will. It’s not in mom’s vocabulary!
My sister is still with us almost two years later and sober. She is living in Southern New Mexico with me, but now that she finally got her driver’s license and a car she goes up to visit my mom often. I love it. I love that they can carry on a good relationship even after everything that happened. I think they are closer now than they were before. I know my sister has a whole new respect for my mom because now she realizes what my mom did for her and finally sees and appreciates that our mom will always be standing in our corner, no matter what. Even if everyone else gives up and leaves, we know our mom will be there for us.
My mom is amazing, the BEST at what she does and I’m still amazed she managed to make it through our childhood. Gosh, I seriously don’t know how she did it and still managed to smile. One time I asked her how she was able to deal with everything we had thrown her way because I know it couldn’t have been easy and she looked at me and said, “Jennifer it’s just part of being mom, it comes with the territory. As your children get older your limits will be pushed more and more and somehow you’ll find strength you didn’t know you had, because you have to.”
So basically what I gathered from that is being Mom Strong is a super power that only moms have. Don’t worry guys, there is also a Dad Strong so you have a super power too. Gosh, I hope that one day the Mom Strong super power is passed on to me because I don’t know what I will do if my kids are like I was. SCARY. I’m definitely going to have to make sure that the Mom Strong super power is passed on to me. My mom says it’s not a super power, but I think she doesn’t want to blow her cover, lol. I’m just playing!
At the end of the day all I can say to my mom is, “Thank you mom! Thank you for not only teaching me right from wrong, but for leading the way. You not only told me how to do things, but you also showed me – because you did them too. You might not realize it, but I’m still learning things just by watching you. The situation with my sister taught me what it means to be Mom Strong!
Mom, I love you! You are the BEST, a Mom Strong Olympian that nobody will ever beat.
Thankfully things have settled down within my sibling and I’s life so our mom can focus on the important things in life, like being a grandma and the Olympian that my siblings and I see her as!
P&G Olympics “Thank You, Mom,” “Strong.”
If you have followed us for a while, you might remember us sharing P&G Brands’ partnership with the Olympians and their moms! Well, they are at it again, and it’s going to be more exciting as we gear up to watch the Olympic hopefuls and their moms on the journey to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games! This time around the Athlete and mom partnerships will include:
- Tide Pods athlete, Simone Biles (Gymnast) and mom Nellie Biles
- Pampers athlete, Dana Vollmer (Swimmer) and mom Cathy Vollmer
- Bounty athlete, Allyson Felix (Track & Field) and mom Marlean Felix
- Gillette athlete, Ashton Eaton (Track & Field) and mom Roz Eaton
- Venus athlete, Gabby Douglas (Gymnast) and mom Natalie Hawkins
NEW P&G Olympics “Thank You, Mom,” “Strong” video
Take a moment and watch this new P&G Olympics “Thank You Mom” “Strong” video. You’ll love it, I’m sure.
Be sure to watch and share the video with anyone you think would enjoy it and stay up to date with the upcoming videos by following the #ThankYouMom hashtag on your social channels.
For the first time in conjunction with the “Thank You Mom” campaign launch, P&G is offering us a deeper look into the latest insight by revealing new global research about what it means to be a mother in today’s world.
It’s not easy to pull off everything we manage to in a day. I also found the specific findings interesting:
So what do you think? Can you relate to the 98% of moms who have admitted they did not anticipate the demands of motherhood with almost two-thirds agreeing that they needed to develop greater emotional strength once they became a mom? I most certainly can; we develop greater emotional strength for all sorts of different reasons when our children are involved.
What about the 63% of moms who agree that it is more important to set a good example for their children than to be involved in every aspect of the day to day caring for their children or the 91% of moms want to instill the values of hard work and determination in their children?
