Being a Mom!

I don't know how many people are aware what a "girlie girl" I am. When I was a child I was actually considered "prissy". Wearing curls in my hair replete with ribbons and bows, and always in dresses I spent my time pretending I was a mommy. I had many babies with names like "Belonk" and "Golanda" who were always dressed to the "nines" especially when they attended tea parties with me. I couldn't wait to be a Mommy for real.

Married at 18 I was anxious to start my family but Marque wasn't born until I was 22. It never really occured to me that I might have a boy because girls outnumbered 4 to 1 in my family and 10 to 1 in Bud's family. I actually asked them to double-check when they announced "You have a boy!" It wasn't that I was disappointed, I wasn't, just surprised! That was about the only surprise I had because I had done my homework on being a mother. Little Raymond Marquist, aka Marc, aka Mark, aka Marque, aka Q was so easy. Maybe it was because he was the first, he was organized and in charge from the get-go. I remember when he was about 18 months old he was so frustrated with the kids I babysat for because they didn't put the toys away in the orderly fashion he required. He would stomp his foot, rearrange them and then scowl at the other little kids for their sloppiness. To this day Marque likes to take care of me rather than the other way around.

Being there was only 20 months between Markie and my second child I was hoping it was a boy. James David was born and I knew they would be so close! They are--now that they are 36 and 38. They couldn't have been more opposite as they were growing up. They didn't fight often because they didn't share any interests, toys, clothes, or music that they would fight over. Jimmy scared us right at first because he didn't grow. Poor little guy went through so many medical tests and lost so much of his growth until they finally figured it all out. He caught up very quickly and thrived. Everyone was in love with him from the moment they saw him. Jimmy didn't waste much time trying to do something, he waited until he could do it well the first time!

Coming from a large family (7 kids) I wanted to have bunches of kids, but my body had other ideas. So I waited for 4 1/2 years before risking another pregnancy and then I had my 3rd son. Maybe God was afraid I would name a daughter "Belonk" or "Golonda"! I think I would have been disappointed if my third and last child was a girl, but maybe I just adjusted to that version of thought because I grew to love my role of mother of sons! Scott was easy! He entertained himself or he was entertained by his older brothers. I remember going to a Tupperware party at the neighbors. Scott was just a year and he sat quietly on a blanket the whole time. When he started to school the teachers always told me that "all the kids love Scotty". He was and still is a good blend of his older brothers and both of them got along so well with their little brother.

So I was the mother of boys and I learned to curtail the flowers and hearts to my doodling rather than my decorating. Soccer became my favorite pasttime over the years. Every year I was room mother for at least one of the kids classes if not all of them, and I put in my time on the PTA as well. Anything having to do with my chosen career of motherhood was right up my alley. I even took appropriate breaks from being a Mom to go out with friends, or my husband because I was told that it was better for my kids to be fresh!

One of the things I also did as a mother is teach my sons that I wanted, adored, expected "mushy" Mothers Day cards. Come on, what little boy is going to know that on their own???? It's only fair that if I put aside my "girlie girl" to be the mother of three active boys, that they put aside their "manly man" for their mommy once a year! They are so good! Scotty even notates on the front of the envelope that he gets extra points because it's pink!

Now I have my girls too! Two beautiful perfect (really they are perfect!) daughters-in-love, and two little granddaughters. I have the best of all worlds. Every year, and this year I received heartfelt messages, and so much love stuffed into cards, notes, gifts, food, and flowers all tell me that Motherhood is the magic I always knew it to be! It is the absolutely best career choice I could have made!

What? Do you think it's because of all the "booty" I haul in at Mothers Day........not bad.....but it's really because of Marque, Jim, Scott, Sarah, Samantha, Hailey and Mady!