Moms

MOM

What a word! To have a Mom. To grow up with a Mom. A beautiful, loving, influential Mom. To witness other great Moms. To then become a Mom. To then be oh so grateful to other dear friends, sisters, aunts, Moms, grandmas, uncles, cousins.... who give your Mom-self the much needed respite from the dear put energy sapping little ones just when you NEED it the most!!!
Lately I had the fortunate experience of meeting, in person, my dear college rowing friends' kiddos, and re-visiting ALL my old teammates, whether they have kids or not! As we all know, those that DONT have kids are SO influential in our lives. MY life! Just the different but wonderful person, the needed distraction. The connection to our past lives, Pre-Mom. Pre-Marriage. That is so awesome!
And....I had the unfortunate experience  recently of loosing a dear cousin. Donny was only 29 and meant the world to my husband, my little boys, and I. Our loss is enormous, but to think of his parents' loss, his Mom's loss, is unimaginable.
Being a Mother, we can fathom it. But cannot really grasp, even imagine it. All we can do is try to support her, and all of us Mothers, Mom's friends, Aunts, Granny's, Grandmas, cousins, and, yes DAD's and uncles and Grandpas out there that support us in being a Mother. 

So, this is a post to all of the Mom's, and our support system!

From left to right----Tammy! Pregnant here with baby number 3 and just days later gave birth! You're a stud, Tammy! Emily, with a newborn, kiddo number two, in tow! I loved meeting your husband and family....:-) Jody! Your amazing sense of self and friendship helps all of us rowing mama's live viraciously though you! Keep at it! And we WILL to a tri, or relay tri together!--- Jenny! IronWoman! Amazing friend to many of our little kiddos! You rock! You are my inspiration. Keep giving us something to strive for! --Alison, awesome nurse and amazing Mama to Quinn and Grey! I had so much fun getting to know Quinn :-) And Ashley. Uh Oh. Our oldest kiddos, from my sister's impression, sound like hubby and wife already. Get ready!. And the wonderful guys in the background. Somethings never change. You rock! And there are SO many Mom's not in this picture. This is just an Inkling of who our epic College Crew team has become. We All ROCK!

Mini rowing kiddo's catching ladybugs by the Lake Cachuma rowing dock!

Rowing Mama's and few of the kiddos

Aunt Megan! Let's hear it for the Aunties! THEY ROCK!!!! I love you, Sisters!!!!! What life savers!

The two humans that made me a MAMA! Geeze I love them!

My little beings, having a blast in Santa Barbara

Another shout out to the Aunties! What a special relationship! Here is Forrest and Aunt Megan on the bike, giving Talin some much needed separation time from his brother. So important!

Granny's! And Great Aunts! These kiddos were running amuck and my wonderful Mom pulled out just one of the tricks up her sleeve, a tuppaware with sand and hidden objects, and BAM! Happy, CALM, little boys for a LONG time!

My Grandmother. My Dad's Mother. The Matriarch of our family. SO blessed to have this role model and friend in my life!

To see my little boy act so kindly towards an old PA school friends first kiddo! So amazing! Talin is such a sweet guy, (At times!).

What being a Mom is about, encorporating the kids into a chore you DON'T want to do. And guess what. THEY make it better! What can be better than bailing out spunk water from a pool that needs to be cleaned? Why catching tadpoles with a 6 year old, of course! Through a child's eyes...all is better....

Generations of Mother's represented in this picture. Great grandson, with two mothers in between, him and his Great Grandma. Priceless!

My little dude. Will be 4 in two days! Dirty faced, ALWAYS! (It seems!) such a little sweet heart though!

My oldest, one of a kind, Forrest. A true elder kiddo. Master leader. 2nd to none. My love

And this Mama! And her adopted kiddo, Thomas, just turned 6. Such a great friend to my boys. And FAST! Can outrun anyone! This Mom just finished FNP school! All the while being the loving supportive Mother to her kiddo who deals with cleft palate amongst other things. Wow! You rock!

Great, crazy, maddening, (honesty here!) but mainly joyful times, mothering brothers. Wowee!

Mothering brothers, who, just last night, were working together to open up some early birthday presents for Talin!

 Mothering brothers, who made me so proud. Forrest used his OWN money to buy Talin a super cool Tiger book WITH 3D glasses from his school book fair, for his birthday. Forrest's idea! That is the best!

And enjoying moment's like these. Having your OWN Mom, in your presence, making your experience with your kiddo's all the better. I'm so lucky! Priceless!

And SO many more here that aren't mentioned. It TRULY takes a village, in my world, to be a Mother! And I thank everysingle person I involve my life with, because you all truly make a difference! Make my word better!

Happy Mothers Day!