Mother of the Year Award

Besides being one of the most generous people I know, I love my mother for her sense of humor. Growing up her and her friends would swap parenting stories and often would talk sarcastically about their latest "Mother of the Year" moments. I learned from these stories that nobody is perfect and that you have to laugh at yourself, including yourself as parent.

My favorite "Mother of Year" story happened one night when I was probably 11 years old. My mother and father attended a party with their friends Rick and Mary. I and Rick and Mary's daughter, Jenny, were allowed to stay home, order pizza and baby-sit ourselves. Shortly after our parents left, tornado sirens started going off. Our mom's called us and told us to go down to the basement and stay there no matter what. Then a flash flood warning was issued so our mother's called us to tell us to get out of the basement but we were not there to answer the call.
After about fifteen minutes in the basement, Jenny and I had decided to see if her neighbors with the finished basement were home so we could watch TV and be safe at the same time. Meanwhile at the party, our mother's thought we were not answering the phone because they had told us to stay in the basement. I can't remember how our mother's found out that we were at the neighbors, I just know that they were happy that we thought to go there and I was happy that we were not in trouble for not following their instructions and that we got to watch Miami Vice.

Now that I'm a mother, I am now giving Mary and my mother a run for their money. I humbly submit this video snipet into this year's competition for "Mother of the Year." Not sure if I will win since Vivi stopped crying after less than a minute but I bet I'll be nominated.




Click here to view video.