My Hero

This was my first Mother's Day since Mom died on January 20, 2014. I had been dreading it for weeks. I wanted to curl up in a ball at the bottom of a dark closet and sob the day away. I wanted to cancel Mother's Day. The commercials made be angry or brought me to tears, or both. It didn't help that I was 1231+ miles away from my dad and siblings. I survived the day but not without tears and heartache. I am tweaking today's Monday Listicles topic a bit and sharing ten things about my mom.

1. She contracted polio as a child and wasn't expected to walk without assistance and yet she went on to play and excel in high school and college sports.

2. She was the middle child in her family. She died in the middle as well and is survived by two sisters.

3. She helped establish a Sunday School class for differently abled adults and taught it for thirty years.

4. She was passionately involved in Special Olympics both at the local and state level. She coached bowling and soccer and was a volunteer coordinator.

5. She and my dad were married for forty-four years.

6. She ran through the sprinklers with her grandchildren.

7. Mom spent thirty years buying and wrapping Christmas gifts for everyone in her Faith Class and all residents in the Group Homes in her city. It was truly a labor of love as she hated shopping.

8. Everyone in our town of 40,000 knew Joan. They either loved her or they feared her. She fought for what was right...not for what was easy.

9. Mom touched thousands of lives thru her coaching and officiating youth sports. Soccer players came from all over the United States to attend her funeral. The little boys who ran thru out house yelling "Coach Joan! Coach Joan!" grew up to play on the traveling team and are now lawyers and professors and movie editors.

10. She is my hero.

July 2003-Meeting their 2nd grandchild and only granddaughter.