Mamalode Why
By Kim Anderson
My mom was just here for a visit. She can fold a fitted sheet better than anyone I know. In fact, I’d bet she could kick Martha Stewart’s butt in an official fitted sheet folding contest. She doesn’t simply roll it up into some kind of ball type thing and throw it into the closet… no… she folds the sheet with 90 degree corners and straight lines and no evidence of a wrinkle. And she does it with ease. Now, she has tried to teach me the art of folding a fitted sheet over the years with the first lesson at the age of 12. But still at 37, I have not come even close to mastering the technique. My mom is amazing. She can do these things that I cannot and I imagine I won’t ever be able to do.
The thing I’ve learned about me and my mom that’s probably not so unique, is that I idolize some of the things she does yet no one on earth seems to be able to find my buttons faster. “No mom… really, you don’t need to reorganize the pots and pans cabinet. Ahh… do you think we could save the chocolate cookies for the kids until after lunch? Its Asian… not Oriental. Mom… you’re mumbling again. No, I DO eat salad now… you must be thinking of me when I was 10. Well, we haven’t fully decided on a the vasectomy route yet but… why are we discussing this?”
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Tags: discussions, grandmother, growing up, Kim Anderson, Martha Stewart, mother, Perfection
Posted in Stories, Why on Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 | 1 Comment »
By Kim Anderson
So I’m going to do something kinda nuts. I am going to do something I’ve never attempted before and had no reason to try. I’m going to test my patience, my tolerance for pain and my character. I’m going to want to give up. I’m going to need support. I’m going to run a half marathon in July (even though I’ve never ran a full mile without stopping) and I’m doing it in honor of a kid at Youth Homes. Some kid I haven’t met and probably never will. I’m doing this because I can’t come up with any more excuses. I’m doing it because I am in awe of what this kid will need to do to survive.
This kid will wake up each morning and might need to fight their urge to self medicate with drugs or alcohol. At age 4, 9, 15, 12, 17 ½ …they will need to overcome self abuse, self hatred, insecurity, chemical dependency, rape, incest, hunger, poverty, mental illness, ignorance, and negative role models that they happen to love deeply. At times they will feel small and alone and need to build themselves up with little or no support from family. And the amazing thing is they do overcome these things (or learn how to deal with them) with time, practice, self determination, love and support.
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Tags: Challenges, children, empathy, goals, Mamalode, Missoula Marathon, mom, Running, struggles, sweat, Youth Homes
Posted in Stories, Why on Friday, March 12th, 2010 | 4 Comments »
Our bedroom is not the kind of space you’d see in a Pottery Barn catalog or on HGTV. After years of transient living, and though the rightful owners of the house, my husband and I have yet to concede to a grown-up way of life by making this room our own. The walls are bare and the same off-white shade they’ve been for the last four years. Traffic passes beneath the open window, interrupting our sleep when a cool summer night becomes a warm morning commute. An addition with a new master suite awaits us with space for a Jacuzzi and views of Snowbowl, Stuart Peak and Mt. Jumbo. But for now this unassuming room is ours.
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Tags: Ashley Kim, changes, Family, Family Bed, Finding a new role, Home Birth, Mamalode
Posted in Stories, Why on Friday, March 5th, 2010 | 5 Comments »
By Mo Larson
Sometimes life cruises along smoothly with nary a roadblock in sight. And then one morning you wake up and your 10-year-old is doing air quotes. And he’s not even doing them correctly. I know where he got it from—I went through a good 6 months to a year where I was quite liberal with the air quotes. He recently came out of his room that he shares with his 8-year-old brother Jake and said,
“Sheesh, Jake is like (begin air quotes) obsessed with (end air quotes) Legos”.
The problem with that statement is that Jake actually IS obsessed with Legos and since his obsession has kept him from joining a gang or becoming a Green Day groupie, we are fine with his obsession.
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Tags: air quotes, attitudes, changes, denial, eye-opening, Mamalode, mini van, Missoula Mom, mo larson, motherhood, puke
Posted in Stories, Why on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 | 6 Comments »
By Mo Larson
So my husband Joe and I have been married for almost 14 years. I like to refer to it as “14 years of wedded bliss”. Sometimes the statement is ironic, and sometimes it is right on the money. If you are married, or have been married, or are in a committed relationship, you know that marriage takes a LOT of work. Or the good ones do anyway. One thing that Joe and I agreed on when we said our vows was that we’d always work hard on our marriage. And that we’d never become vegetarians. We were smart enough to know that our marriage could never endure that.
There are numerous reasons I married Joe. He’s really kind to people, he’s extremely optimistic about life, and he’s easy on the eyes. I don’t think anyone would ever refer to Joe as a metrosexual, but if you’re acquainted with my husband you know that he has a sort of cave man magnetism. Sorry for any unsettling images.
One of the main reasons I married Joe though, is that I instinctively knew that he’d be a really amazing dad. Plus he’s hot. From the time I was in about the 5th grade, as I began the uphill climb out of what I’ll generously refer to as “my tomboy days”, I knew that I wanted to have kids someday. Up until then I was still wearing my brother Brendon’s hand-me-downs, and I had an unfashionably short haircut that resulted in me being called “little man” at the gas station one time. Seriously. My mom told me that it was a “Dorothy Hammill” haircut, and that all of the chic little girls were getting it.
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Tags: cave man magnetism, Husbands, Mamalode, marriage, missoula, mo larson, motherhood, MT, Picking the right man, Tom Boys
Posted in Stories, Why on Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 | 10 Comments »
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