A long sentence for mom
Bethel University digital journalists thank their moms ahead of Mother’s Day for the big and little things, such as Hush Little Baby, Miranda sings and huevos con weenies.
I know you, Josie. You’re the type of mom who says she’s going completely organic, then goes to Aldi filling a cart full of organic knock-off groceries, to end up buying a bag of Cheetos at Walmart the week after.
Anyways, thanks mom for singing the “Red Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobbin’ Along” song the second you flipped the blinding lights on to wake me up for school, for always packing me a lunch of leftovers from home when it was fish Friday, for letting me watch the Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Marvel at an age I probably shouldn’t have been watching things like that, for letting me own Monster High dolls despite you thinking they were ugly, for forcing me to pick at least two books at the library until I began asking to go to the library myself, for making me sit alone at the table till all my peas were eaten, for braiding my hair tightly for each Christmas concert, for letting me believe in Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and more to just tell me it was all a lie, for finding us a good home church that I have come to adore, for helping me grow a strong relationship with God, for letting me wear dress pants instead of the dresses you preferred, for making me a Dr.Pepper addict like you, for accepting my tomboy phase wearing the highlighter Under Armour hoodie 24/7 with boy’s basketball shorts and my hair tied up in the most violently tight ponytail, for taking many pictures of me despite my hatred of pictures, for keeping said pictures so I could regret my tomboy phase, for getting me a Dairy Queen ice cream cake and making me homemade enchiladas each birthday, for homeschooling me, for teaching me how to drive in our white 2012 Honda Odyssey and for not giving up on me when I almost ran into that trash can, for the talks in my room when my anxiety was at its worse, for going through the confusions that come with raising a teenage girl for the first time, for making huevos con weenies in the mornings, for helping me figure out how college works, for encouraging me to seek a degree in English, for making me learn how to cook despite my complaints about how raw meat is the worst substance on earth to touch, for dealing with my faces and attitude, for giving me another brother even though I would have preferred a PS4, for giving me brothers and then giving me a sister even though I clearly stated I wanted another boy, for reminding me that God loves me and that I am never alone, for all the hugs and “I love yous”, and for everything else. ~Angela Gonzalez
I know you, Amy, you’re the kind of mom who always takes care of her two kids even when they are sick and all you want to do is bleach the whole house.
Anyway, thanks, mom, for always being there for me when I am nervous, staying up all night with me to talk, driving me anywhere and everywhere, making me dinner every night, always packing my lunch for school, always giving your opinion even when I didn’t ask for it, for always believing in me when I couldn’t even believe in myself, for still being the Easter Bunny or Santa even though I told you to stop, for supporting me with my concert addiction, for letting me choose the music in the car, for always keeping me posted what is happening at church and in our extended family, for being there for Max when I can’t be, always listening to dad on the phone even though you don’t want too, for taking care of Marley and giving her the best home, for always letting me go out to eat on the weekends (Fast-Food), for always recommending Netflix or Movies to watch, for making the switch to Apple many years ago from Android, and for being the best mom, sister, daughter, friend, daughter in law, wife, and parent. I love you mom! ~Emma Carmichael
I know you, Anne, you are the type of mom who goes out of her way to buy Reese’s candy for me and then proceeds to sneak it into her kids duffle bag without them knowing because they care and know God’s grace.
Anyways, thanks, mom, for putting up with my constant activeness before you gave birth to me, my kicks and hectic movements, for giving me a green and blue blanket and 2 koala stuffed animals when I was born because you already loved me and decided that I deserved a gift for being born and making it into this world, for letting me to be free and run around the house even though I was so out of control sometimes that I would hit my head and scar it on a plate or the driveway, for when you continue to ask me “you doing ok?” and still continue to ask what is going on if you know that I am lying, for loving me when I make mistakes and advocating for me as a person who deserves to be loved, for forcing me to go to Woodland Hills church and the “heroesgate” program because you valued us to know Jesus and wanted to do all you could for us to find Jesus, for coming to my in-house basketball games even when dad and tiffany and dad’s grandparents were there yet you still came to see me ball out, for forcing me to choose an instrument to play in orchestra because you knew that music is an opportunity you don’t wanna miss, for forcing me to also to do piano lessons at Northwestern University with curtis baum even though I argue against it and was sick and tired of it, for telling me that my first girlfriend was not “good for me” and was “toxic” when I couldn’t see her or myself from the outside looking in, for forcing me to take AP classes even when I didn’t believe myself and couldn’t see where AP Human Geography might lead me in the future, for letting me try many different sports so I could find Ultimate Frisbee and have some fun, for being able to put up with your parents even when you were extremely fed up and exhausted because grandpa came over and mowed the lawn again, for laughing at my impressions of “Miranda sings” with honor, for talking to me late into the night even though you have to wake up at 6:30 a.m. and it was 2:30, for always looking out for us kids and loving us when we didn’t know if anyone loved us, for telling me the truth about the divorce and being vulnerable so I could recognize that bringing the dark to light destroys evil and exposes us to something that is bigger than us. There are so many more things that could be said to me, mom, but one of the best things you did for me was force me to find maturity because there was no other way. So, thank you for being you — a resilient, gracious, funny, strong, and incredible momma. I love you. ~Toby Becvar
I know you, Marianne, you’re the type of mom to bring a gallon Ziploc bag of apples on a Sun Country flight.
Anyways, thank you mom for compiling my copious amounts of weekly vitamins into red, disposable shot glasses, for vacuuming my room even though you had already asked me a million times to do it myself, for taking videos instead of photos for every occasion and always making me say “Mooooom”, for making us pull over at every scenic overlook we pass on our road trips to get out and look for five minutes before we move on, for making the tub a temporary bed filled with towels and couch cushions when I was sick and for playing the Cities 97 Sampler on the gray radio to pass the time, for saving every single one of my middle school projects so that you could eventually embarrass me just when I forgot about them all, for taking me on road trips to Colorado and stopping at the Corn Palace and Wall Drug every single time, for buying me a Happy Meal in Hawaii just so that I could get the limited edition Speed Racer toy, for eating Grape Nuts and yogurt while watching old Bob Marley concerts on our CRT TV, for joining my numerous tea parties and taking me to Teavana to get our favorite Samurai Chai Mate, for taking me to five different churches so that I could decide which one I liked best, for singing Hush, Little Baby until I had forgotten about all of my little worries, for giving me hope when I felt the most alone, and for telling me I’m beautiful during moments where I doubted everything about myself. So thank you, mom, for being the most amazing, talented, and worldly mother anyone could ever ask for. ~Merrina O’Malley
