Life Lessons with Lindsay

My daughter Corrine is a junior in high school who cheers and plays tennis. My son James David is an eighth grader who plays football and is on the 4H Shooting team. They are at the age where everything is funner with friends and they are always on the go. 

My sweet, handsome baby boy is a man child at roughly 5’ 10” and 200 lbs. About two months ago, he wanted to go to our local state park. He and one of his man child friends planned to kayak and fish. I quickly said yes and then realized I would have to haul them in my cute, sporty, but small SUV. Baby boy was folded up in the front seat. His friend lay across the entire backseat to fit into the car. We then headed to the lake. The two fishing poles dangled next to my face. They ran all the way from the back to the front. 

On that day I knew it was time for a mom car. Big Daddy encouraged me to make a change. I traded in my sexy little SUV for the ultimate mom vehicle, a GMC Yukon XL. I call it the school bus but I can haul six teenagers like a champ. We roll six deep in this bad boy regularly and I have started coming to peace with my mom car. 

Tonight, after driving an hour away to a football game, we opened the back to get out our stadium seats. I took a quick mental inventory of the piles of supplies in the back and went on into the game. About halfway through the game the temperature dropped a bit and the mosquitoes swarmed to my pale ankles. I realized I wanted a blanket. I also needed bug spray. I made a note to add both to my mom car supplies. (Everything in my life requires a note or calendar invite. Even date nights with Big Daddy get put on the calendar)

As I made my note I had one of those ah ha moments. I can either fight it or embrace it. I have two choices. I can become my mom by putting the “just in case” blanket in the back of my car. Alternatively, I can fight it and be cold. I can become the mom that is a try hard (as my kids call it) by having all of the stuff on hand or I can get eaten alive by mosquitoes. 

As I thought about it I realized that it is too exhausting to fight it. I realized that my mom has that JIC blanket because she is wise and knows that old lady rotten skin requires blankets. I realized that¹ having everything in the back of my mom car makes me seem old. However, it also makes me a place of comfort for the people that benefit from my mom car hoarding. 

So yes, I had an entire world view shift during a Jr. High football game. Since I understand next to nothing about football, it gives me plenty of time for my mind to wander. I squint my old eyes and try to spot baby boy on the field. I was squinting, looking for number 54, and accepting my transition into the mom that has emergency blankets in the back of her mom car. I was accepting my new role in this world, knowing that all too soon my kids will be grown and my role will change again. This is my current calling and I am at peace with it. We may have lost the game, but we won the blanket/bug spray battle.