Journey from the Mountains to the Ocean.

I have been looking forward all week to this entry. I m going to tell you some funny stories about my Mom but I got to thinking I should atleast introduce her to you first.
If I were introducing her at gala event the first thing I would tell you about her is that she is the smartest person I have ever known. Her strategy is this. If she doesnt know something, whatever it is you are asking, give her some time and she will find out. She was the internet long before the internet was invented. If my Mom had been born in another time, I am sure you would now know her name very very well as one of the most successful NBA coaches of our time. She is a brilliant strategist. I have often thought of sending Phil Jackson her number for help. In the off-season she could easily pick up the general manager jobs of any Major League baseball team, and I think in her heart she secretly awaits a call from George Steinbrenner. Since the Yankees have Haliburtons budget to spend on their team, Mom prefers to help the underdog Colorado Rockies. She has very very good advice for them, unfortunately they change GM's and head coaches so fast, we havent been able to get her phone number spread around their office.

I used to compare my Mom with my friend's moms. You know the grass is always greener. I remember Julie Lynch's mom would let her do anything. I mean it- not once did that woman say no, that isnt a good idea. I knew I didnt want her to be my Mom because there were ideas that Julie had that I was hoping an adult would put a stop to. I just about freaked out when I was friends with Randy Dearth, I told him I couldnt go riding bikes because I had to clean my room, and he said he didnt have to clean -they had "a Lady" come and do it for them. I couldnt believe that luck. They did have a brand new double wide but they only had 2 kids and each kid had their own room -AND Mrs. Dearth didnt work. I always thought I wanted to be Mrs. Dearth until I learned what a stay at home mom did versus a working mom. Mrs. Dearth was bored to tears, did nothing ,and hated Big Piney. They only survived there one year. I had a working mom. We lived there for 10 very happy years. I am proud I did. Even though at the time ,the draw back was having to clean. Sheryl Williams' mom was a nurse. She had a great sense of humor but she would talk to you about nurse stuff, guts and poo. She was a little too graphic for me. I was glad she wasnt my Mom. Sylvia McDonald. Now there was a MOM. WOW She came over one day and told us that she and the kids had just made marshmellows and she couldnt get the goop out of the new kitchen carpet or her clothes. I thought WOW what a mess! My Mom of course knew the solution. I kinda leaned toward wanting Sylvia as my mom because she seemed so fun, until I went over to house to help her try to "organize" MOUNT Sylvia. It was a mound, I am not kidding you as high as her second floor set of stairs of pieces of polyester fabric that she was going to make into quilts or something. It had been there for months. OK, I could not cope with a house that messy nor waking up to Mount Sylvia every day. What if someone was living in that heap?

I have always admired Marcia Elliott. She is a great mom. I had never seen a family run with such military precision. Their fridge was an amazing set of schedules and calendars that ran as smoothly as you can imagine. There were 6 main little Elliotts and at any given moment, she could tell you that Ricky had practice at 2:30 and Vern's next game was Friday night at 6:00 against True Drilling. And to make it worse for her, she said it was ok whenever the kids wanted to have a friend over. I was lucky enough to be included in many Elliott outings and I have never had so much fun in group in my life. The only strategy I could figure out that she used was the head count system. She would check how many heads were in the station wagon and away we would go. But as I got to know Marcia better, there was one thing that scared the hell out of me.

Marcia like my Mom, knows alot about sports and particularly Little League Baseball. She actually knows enough that she really should have been a coach and GM------ but she would share what she knew with the Umpire--- who she believed did NOT know the game as well. The great thing about Marcia was that she didnt yell at the ump just for her own child. She yelled at him for any call he made that didnt help the team. She would yell at him about Everything. Once Vern had to come out of the dugout and ask Her to be quiet. The first time I heard her yelling, I was so surprised, shocked and stunned I didnt know what to do. I was so scared that she was going to get " in trouble" and get ejected then we werent going to have a way to get home and I would get in trouble. I thought they would certainly have to jail her to contain her. When we did get home, I remember telling my mom all about it and she just laughed and said," Sometimes people feel that way about the game." I thought ok, but I am so glad you are my Mom. You would never say anything to an ump.

Hallmark knows that there are a million ways to describe a mom and your love for them because it is hard to put into words how much they mean to you, but there are somethings in this world that when I see them I always think of Mom. Like a cup of coffee next to a piece of chocolate cake, or a piece of toast. White Keds, the words "Spring House Cleaning or Fall House cleaning." Mauve carpet. Aqua-Net hair Spray, the smell of Pinesol and flowers. Gallardia, perenniel daisies, matrakaria, blooming Clematis, nicatianna and all the ones with neat names, like lambs ear, dusty miller, money plant and little red tulips, and dutch iris. My mom can grow anything.( given the right soil she would say). She loves to teach gardening to the beginner and the semi expert. She knows more Latin names for plants that anyone should, and the funniest piece of garden advice she ever gave me was, "Lisa , just remember green up and brown down." I laughed so hard I thought I would wet my pants at that one. Was it because so many of my green plants were brown that she thought I had gotten them mixed up.


Mom used to be a strict diciplinarian, she isnt anymore because we are all perfect, but thats another story. I have thought alot about how she did this. I dont have the answer but Ill tell you how it was growing up under her reign. I didnt "DO" or "TRY" a lot of things because I was afraid I would get in trouble. I never knew the depth or width of the word trouble, it was left to my own imagination I guess but it was enough to keep me from doing some shennigans that I was tempted to. I was afraid of her, I will tell you. But more importantly I was afraid of breaking her heart, disappointing her or embarrassing her. All of which I know I have done and dont even know when I did. but I tried. In fact I overachieved at this one. I was so afraid of "it", I would tell her ahead of time or tell her I was thinking of doing it. In school, I had never played hookie ( ditched) a day. So when I was a senior I thought I would try it with a girlfriend. I set it up on a day I didnt have any afternoon classes and then I went to the nurse faked being sick and instead of driving home, got my girlfriend who was waiting outside of NCHS and we drove around all afternoon. When the school called my mom and said I hadnt shown up for class, she said I know I think she is home sick." She helped me because I told her what I was doing. What a great partner in crime.

In my life, my Mom has been a 4H leader, a blue-bird mother but the motto she follows from these groups is TO ALWAYS BE PREPARED.. HOLY Crap I have to tell you my mom is the best, She can pull a 8 course dinner or a EMT kit with blood pressure monitor out of her purse. (Not quite but almost.) Next time you are out and you see her ask her for a q-tip and she will have one in her pocket I swear. Last month, we 8 of the gang including Shannon, were at the OPENING DAY game for the Rockies. Cathy, who is an amazing event coordinator, organized us all into getting some good old Baseball food. Rockie dogs, pulled pork sandwiches, nachos, popcorn peanuts candy and drinks. Before we went up to get it, we asked Mom and Dad what they wanted. Dad would be a sport for one of everything but Mom is a bit more limited eater. She did chime in for the ROCKIE dog, if we could get it plain with just a little mustard, and salad dressing if they have it. I have YET TO SEE ANYONE eat Salad dressing on a hotdog!!! MOM- come on. Its the Stadium. They put kraut, chili jalepenos, onions relish, but I doubt they have salad dressing. (I guess she thought it never hurts to ask.) SO we get the dogs, WHOA and Cathy got it loaded. GOD BLESS us all. Rockie dogs are foot longs. We take the food back all squished and slurpy across the laps of 3 business men and sit down and pass it all out. Dad eats his just like a champ. WE plow through ours and are chewing away when I notice my Mom trying to get in her purse. I offer to help and hold her hot dog wondering what she needs when I realize I forgot the napkins. She pulls out a beautiful hankie that she will use as her napkin. Then she pulls out this little black case with a little set of those collapisible scissors in there. She whips them out CHA-CHING and begins to cut her 12 in. hotdog into 4 sections that she can eat a bit more daintily. I am watching her in amazement as I wipe the relish off the end of my nose and think OH MY GOD only Mom would be so prepared. SHe is so cute and God I love her.

If any of us are ever described as generous it is because of the example set by Mom. There are a million ways to be generous, with time, love patience and money and Mom is all of those, but ask any Reynolds, Hebbert, Hendrickson, and Hall and they will tell you most generously with money. You probably would want me to list the charities she has devotedly donated too, I am sure there are some, but mostly its the Reynolds, Hebbert, Hendrickson and Hall Charitable Foundation. If you have need she will help, even if you don't she will help. Even if the need is something you just wanted for a long time, she will help. If you want to go to movies and are a few bucks short of the $2 cheap seats she will help. We tease about the Hendrickson Savings and Loan with the revolving door, but its true. And when you ask to borrow a little til payday, and I promise I will pay it back, when you return to pay it back, She always says," Now are you sure you can afford this.?" I love that. and because she told me to always be honest, I would say," Sure, I can afford it today but hang on to it in case I need it next week." We just laugh.

There are too many Christmas' to tell you, that would not have been if it had not been for Mom. Mom doing all the baking because we didnt have time or money, she paid for and cooked the Christmas eve Buffet, Christmas dinner Ham, Turkey or Prime Rib because all combine if we had pooled our money we wouldnt have enough to get to Mini Mart and buy twinkies. She is the reason we all feel about money the way you should. Its nice to have but better to share. Best Financial advice I ever had in my life, was "Watch your pennies the dollars take care of themselves"....Mom. She would say her best advice to us is Pay Yourself First. ITs not her best and that one doesnt work for me, because I always think I am more valuable than the gas bill and thats why I always have to come over before payday.




Its time to mention the most important aspect of Mom. She rules our world. She is known as Grandmother. "Grandmother said you have to.... Grandmother wont like that.. You better not do that or Ill tell Grandmother" She is the muscle behind the punch. I have used her name to threaten, cajole and motivate my kids hundreds of times. They have done the same thing to me. They tell on me. Grandmother commands respect. I love that because it seems like the world is swirling quickly down a fast drain of social disorder. No one has respect for anyone any more. Not just kids dont respect their elders, its everybody. SO its very refreshing to know and see that Mom is so loved by them that she earns their respect. This is a funny story, there are many things that we Hebberts have done that have been followed by the words "Dont you ever tell Grandmother." Rusty has had a tattoo on his leg since he was 18 and every time Mom and Dad would drop by he would just about kill himself to jump down the 13 stairs to the basement to put some pants on to cover it. She more than likely knew about it 15 minutes after he got it but has never said a word for or against it, but the kids worry that she would disapprove and they want to please her. Not because they are big suck ups but because you just dont want to break her heart. Elizabeth got her nose pierced when she turned 19 and has more than once faked a sneeze to pull it out while standing at the front door before Grandmother saw it. Well Im pretty sure she saw it long ago at bingo but was nice enough to fake like she didnt or just graceful enough to let it go. And to this day, Elizabeth takes it out so that Grandmother wont be embarrassed or upset by it. I know all there is to know about the psychology of people pleasing, but I truly dont think that has nothing to do with it. I think we all want to please Mom, make her proud, get her to smile or laugh because she is so precious to us. We know what we have and like anything precious to you, you want to keep it safe and in a special place.

So this is my Mothers Day tribute to my Mom, I saved the great stories about how she shot the windows out of my car with a wrist rocket, defended Marcia Elliot with a gun under her robe and out ran by me when we saw a rattlesnake, but Ill save those for another day. She is a crack-shot with a gun, a master chef of slumgullion and sugar cookies, she loves to talk on the phone, she has never weighed more than 98 pounds dripping wet with her heavy boots on, she calls glue musilage, and outside of beating my dad at cribbage, nothing brings her more happiness than the joy of giving. She invented it.

Posted by Tim on Saturday, May 13, 2006 at 6:52 AM | Permalink