Continuing the Journey

Making Memories with Mommy

I was born into a large family...I have two brothers and three sisters. My Mom didn't work outside the home (they could have never afforded daycare for all of us!), so Dad worked his full time job and made extra money as a musician on the weekends.

Being the mother of six kids, my Mom didn't have a lot of spare time. But when Dad went to his music gigs and took my oldest brother along (who started in Dad's dance band when he was 12 years old), we were able to convince Mom to have fun with us. Some nights she would play the radio really loud on the local pop station and let us roller skate in the house. Some nights she would lie on the couch watching The Carol Burnett Show, then The Love Boat, and then Fantasy Island with us while I brushed her hair. (She usually fell asleep before The Love Boat started...)

My favorite nights were when she would have exercise class with us. Mom has always been an avid exerciser (way before it was cool) and we loved to spread out in the music room (since Dad had the drum set, guitars, and amplifiers with him, the room would be empty) and work out. Afterwards we would get a snack of potato chips and half a bottle of Coke. (Rare delicacies in those days.) To this day, when I think of those silly things my Mom did with us, they make me smile. Were they impressive and expensive? No. But they are treasured memories to me.

When Meggie was born, I wanted to create similar kinds of memories for her. My favorite thing that we made a tradition were our Friday night movies. We would get into our jammies really early, climb in Mommy and Daddy's bed, and watch a kids' movie. She always got to pick the movie...and then when she fell asleep we would just let her sleep in our bed.

To this day, Meggie and I have our best talks lounging in my bed watching TV. When she's stressed, she crawls under the covers with me and seeks advice. When she's happy, she bounces into my room and spreads her silly joy. When she's bored, we kill time watching mindless sitcoms or goofy reality shows. While we don't have our Friday movies anymore, that tradition set the stage for many a mother-daughter talk.

When Carson arrived, I decided we needed to resurrect Friday night movies. Being the television addict that he is, he was all for it! I typically pick the movie (or else he would pick the same movie every week) and I usually fall asleep before the movie ends. (Hey, I'm getting older now...) Carson would never, under ANY circumstances, fall sleep while watching TV, so he wakes me when the credits roll at the end and I tuck him in his bed...or Daddy handles it while I'm still sleeping! (We're afraid to let him spend the night in our bed, or else we may never get him back into his own!)

When he figures out that it is our "movie night," his excitement is palpable! You never saw a kid get into jammies as quick as he does on Fridays. As he snuggles into Daddy's pillows, I hear lots of "Ahhhh, com-fa-bowl" (aka ahhhh, comfortable) and LOTS of "Mommy....I LUB you!" It is a great end to any week to snuggle with my little guy and introduce him to the classic kids' movies we have on VHS. (We REALLY need a DVD player in our bedroom!) While Daddy is left out of this tradition, he enjoys having the big screen TV downstairs all to himself with no interruptions.

Tonight is the best yet...Carson picked The Wizard of Oz and invited Meggie to join us. She turned him down initially, but eventually crawled into bed with us. So I'm blogging on my side of the bed while my kids are snuggled together on Daddy's pillows. Do we sound boring and pathetic, being in bed at 8PM on a Friday night? Probably. But you know what? It is the best night of my week 'cause I'm with my kiddos...and we're creating memories that I hope some day my kids will treasure.

Thanks for the inspiration, Mom!