Last night my mom slept overnight to watch my kids while I went to music practice at church. I don’t know what craziness possessed me this morning, but I set my alarm for 5:00 AM to take a spinning class at the YMCA. I guess it was a treat to have someone with my kids in the wee hours of the morning.
Sneaking out of the house, Jordan caught me! He must have a radar. I told him my plan and he went to crawl in bed with grandma and ask her if she could make pancakes for breakfast.
On my way home from exercising I called to make sure Jordan was awake to catch his school bus on time. Maddi answered the phone, “Hello, Silvera’s. This is Maddi. Can I help you?”
“Hi, Love,” I greeted her.
“Mom!” her reply was exuberant, then scolding, “What are you doing? You can’t go to the YMCA! It is still the middle of the night!”
Driving in the dark, I didn’t have much ground to argue.
When I got home, my mom took Maddi to spend the day with her and I helped Jordan get ready for school. My day was like a clean chalkboard ready to be marked and used. I made eggs with sautéed spinach and mushrooms, brewed coffee and booted up the laptop. I had sixteen pages of edits to review for the publisher by Monday. I wanted it to be perfect. But, even with the house entirely quiet how can writing ever be perfect?
Sitting at my computer my mind wandered to a different writing topic: my mom. She is by far the most presently helpful person in my life. I can call for her help anytime and she often reminds me of that. She is selfless—really. It seems like my goals come before her own. As I was waiting for inspiration to type, I realized she is a great inspiration to me. I couldn’t accomplish even a step to my book without her. Or an early morning bike class. Or making it to music practice on time. Or fresh, fluffy pancakes to order by a five year old. Or simply just feeling supported in this life…she fills that slot too.
So, before I could write anything else—I just had to have it in writing how much my mom means to me. She is my "in the middle-of-the-night" light.
