Derek had been living in a hotel for a month by the time we were able to join him.  He was so excited to be there and he knew he was in a different level of basketball – this was the Big Ten!!  For that reason, I did not want to hinder his performance or interrupt his work so I asked my mom if she could help me with the move.  Or to be perfectly honest, when you have young children, moms can be so much more helpful than husbands.  Other mothers “get it” while husbands are clueless as to what is helpful.  For example, it is not helpful if I have to tell you what to do – just get out of my way and let me do it myself then.  Moms come swooping in and do the laundry, make dinner, take the baby when she is crying, give a bath, change a diaper, clean the house all in the same amount of time it takes my husband to get off the toilet.  You never are too old to need your mother.

My mom was there for the disaster that happened at the closing on our St. Louis house.  My mom has always been there for me and there is no greater test to that support than driving 10 hours with your mom, two kids, and two dogs.   It was Thelma and Louise in a minivan.  We would get off at a deserted exit and change drivers while the minivan was practically still moving so I could breastfeed Sam without waking Bailey up.  I remember the intense stares at the gas station when the minivan door opened and a plunger, a roll of paper towels and a fire extinguisher fell out onto the pavement.  All of which were remnants left at the old house that we had forgotten to put in the moving van.  Our ultimate mission as Thelma and Louise was trying to sneak our dogs into a hotel that didn’t except animals.  It was very late and only one person was working the front desk so I sent my mom in to play the damsel in distress with two screaming grand babies while I snuck the dogs in the back entrance.  It worked perfectly – just had to hide my older daughter’s favorite stuffed animal and starve my youngest and they cried on cue.