Happy Mother's Day!

When I was young (I have no idea how young – maybe 12-13 or so) Mom took me and friend Alfie to our cabin several miles in the Sawtooth Mountains above Fairfield Idaho. It was the usual summer camping trip and we hiked, played, and had a great time. My mom had taken the green ford van as it was easier to haul kids and stuff in. The van was the typical 1970/1980’s ear conversion van (remember the Chevy Van song?). I have several other memories of that van – but those are for a different story.

Anyway – one evening while in the hills we stopped by a campground several miles from the cabin to get some water. There was an old manual pump spring in this particular campground that had very good water. Alfie and I got out of the sliding door of the van and started working on the pump. Just as the water started to flow we heard a low growl followed by very angry barking of a rather large dog.

Being 12 or 13 or so, this was of course the biggest nastiest dog we had ever seen. The dog charged at us and we heard the dog’s owner yelling “BILL – BILL GET BACK HERE!!!” but we were already flying toward the van. Like a bad episode of the A-team we launched in the Van screaming and yelling at my Mom to “FLOOR IT!” Of which she obliged – not having a clue what was going on. Gravel flew as the dog still pursued the fleeing van while we attempted to get the side door closed. “BILL BILL – GET BACK HERE!!!”

This is one of the best stories I have of my youth and mother – she was always on her toes for wild vicious mongrels after that. Of course there are more stories, but this one really reminds me of how much I love my mother. She punched the accelerator on the van trusting that we were truly in harm’s way and would have run over the mutt (and his owner) if she felt it was necessary. Of course I could be exaggerating the whole incident – but that’s what young memories do isn’t it?

My mother is an adventurer at heart. She is a bit of an adrenaline junky. We used to go to a family reunion in Salt Lake City every summer and go to the amusement park “Lagoon” while we were there. They had put in a double loop roller coaster one year and I think she spent the entire time on the ride. It took a considerable amount of courage for me to get on the ride – but she rode it nonstop from the time we arrived until dark. I sometimes think that security may have had to pry her out of it after they shut the park down.

She loves to ride her Kawasaki 700KFX. It’s a big quad with a big motor and for a belt drive transmission can really haul some butt on the sand and kick up clouds of dust in the desert. I have a lot of photos of her on the bike, primarily because it’s one of our mutual summer hobbies. We joke that almost every picture we have of her she is pointing at something, so Dad and Morgan make fun of her sometimes when I point the camera her direction.

Mom and Dad helped us move to Oregon in 2001 and I think it was one of the hardest things we had done. I am an only child and being away from my parents was hard, and is still hard some days. I see myself in Morgan and wish sometimes we lived closer so Mom could live it all again (HA!)

It’s Mothers Day – so it’s time to pick on my Mom on this blog. Of course there are other important Mom’s in my life – Grandma Pat (92 years old) and Grandma Afton (89 years old) are still with us and are a strong influence in my life. Bridgett of course – the mother of my children and her Mother Roberta.

A Happy Mother’s day to you all! Love you!