My Mom is Cool

Why? Because she is. I know it's not Mother's Day yet, but who cares. My mom is cool. She always has been. She's funny. She puts up with my brother and I. And our odd sense of humor. And our almost constant harassment of her. She's even learning to give it back.

She has always been there for me and my brother and anyone else who needed her. My friends always thought my mom was the coolest--because she was. They were jealous of me and my mom because my mom let me do things their moms wouldn't. My high school friends would come over and spend more time talking to my mom than me.

When things went wrong, and I mean terribly wrong, she was always there for me. In 1991 one of my best friends died. A few days after my friend died, my mom called and asked if I wanted her to come see me. Oh, god yes. She drove eight hours to spend two days with me and my friends. I refused to leave my friends' apartment--we were all going through this together. So my mom showed up with pots, pans, food, and everything else needed to take care of a bunch of college kids dealing with one of the first major crises of their lives. She bought us chocolate and beer and food. She cooked. She talked. She took care of us. And me. Why? Because she's my mom and that is what moms do--at least that is what my mom does.

My mom is eccentric. She told me years ago I had to stop telling people she was crazy because she thought they might believe she actually was crazy. She is a little crazy (but in a fun way). She's getting a tattoo of Bill the Cat at the end of the summer. She drives an orange 1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle. And a Subaru with coffee stains on the passenger side floor. She has a house full of knick knacks and crap. And animal hair. Just like me. She is creative. She is funny. She is my mom and she's awesome.

One year she sent me a Mother's Day card because without me (and my brother) she would never have been a mom.

And you know why else she is cool?

Because this is what she got me for my birthday (you didn't think this was going to only be about my mom did you?):

It's a USB turntable so I can convert my albums to Mp3s. I don't have a ton of albums, but I have enough that were never released on CD. Like this:


And believe me, this will be the first LP I will convert to MP3s, followed by the first to Iowa Compilations--two of my favorite albums, ever. (Too bad it will have to wait a few weeks since I have some traveling to do, of course it would be nice to be able to listen to this album on my iPod on the way to Philadelphia next week). Don't get me wrong, I love vinyl. I love the click and the pop. But vinyl isn't portable.

Yessiree bob, my mom is cool She is cool because of all the reasons I mentioned above--and I meant every single one of them. But she is also cool because when I send her links to things like this and say, "Hey, this is what I want for my birthday," she doesn't blink an eye. And then when she talks about my birthday present she tells me things like, "I'm not sure I'll get it finished in time." Why? Because she lives off tricking people about presents. And then when I try not to pout (or even when I do pout) she laughs her ass off when she gives me the present I wanted. Because she wants to see me happy. Why? Because that's what moms do. At least that is what my mom does.

And my mom is cool.

And I love her, too.