my other mother

I love my mom. She is gentle, sweet, loving, even-tempered, patient, tough. She cooks. She sews. She crafts. She loves thoroughly and unconditionally.

But when I married Scott, I got a bonus mom. She's the mom who rousts us out of bed at sunrise every morning for a pre-dawn ski run. She's first in the water no matter what and almost always takes the last run back to the houseboat.

She remembers every birthday, anniversary, special event, favorite candy and meal...for all 7 of her kids, their spouses and all the grandkids. She miraculously feeds and entertains a whole family of 22 for a week on a houseboat with sporadic AC and temperamental bathrooms with never a raised voice or an angry tone.

She runs rivers. She hikes the Grand Canyon. She kicks our asses on the wave-runner race course. She makes wicked yummy jam and fudge jumbles. She still puts out the special "birthday" plate even for us old kids. She certified in scuba last year so she could go diving. Her house is always tidy, the lawn always perfectly manicured.

She's amazing with the grandkids. Mud packs for spa treatments. Sparkly purple pedicures that take 2 hours at the hands of little people. Sand castle competitions where she has half the kids building and half destroying until one of the boys is forced to plug the leaking castle walls with his butt. Water balloon launching - complete with eggs or tomatoes when a plain ol' water balloon just isn't interesting enough. Homemade playdough. Christmas themed treasure hunts. Puzzles, books, tube rides, waterfall chasing, mud pits, water slides with the kids. Her form of entertainment does not include the TV or movies or iPhone games. And I love that. I hate watching our kids instantly morph from these fascinating, creative, curious, lively little people into catatonic, deaf zombies completely entranced the second that little glowing screen lights up. I always wonder how she managed to raise seven kids with such success. Most days I feel like I can barely handle two. And she seems to do it with such calm and cool.

It goes without saying that I love her. That I am eminently impressed by her. That, like my own mom, she inspires me to be not just a better mother but a better person.