My Mom's A Thoroughbred

 my mom with Double A (Ammon Alejandro--grandchild #19)

When I was a little girl, the sporting events we watched were horse races.  The Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes all raced across our TV screen.  I have always liked horses....and thoroughbreds.  Luke was a thoroughbred.  He was my dad's horse.  He was a bay with long slender legs and intelligent eyes.  Luke was gentle and fast and smart and my favorite horse I've ever ridden.

(Especially compared to one of the last horses I've ridden, Templeton.  Templeton bucked me off.  Hard.  It wasn't fun.  Templeton was Tabor's horse.  Was he named after the rat in Charlotte's Web? Because he reminds me of a rat.  I'm over it though.  I'm not bitter.  I've forgiven the rat horse and my dad and brothers for thinking it was a little bit funny.  Really.  Water under the bridge.)   

I digress.

I admire thoroughbreds.  And my mom is a thoroughbred.  In the dictionary, besides horses, thoroughbred can refer to: an outstanding or first class person or thing.

My mom.

Also, my mom is the most thorough person in the world.  Thoroughness defines her.  One thing she can't tolerate is a "half-done" job.  It irks her.

For ten years my mom taught high school business classes-- accounting, keyboarding, computers, etc.  She taught very well.  She was thorough.  You'd better believe it.

Now she's moved on to working part time as an accountant and double overtime as a mother and grandmother. 

The other day I was talking to my mom about my efforts in teaching Braeden to type.  She gave me some good advice and she told me she's teaching Desi keyboarding this year.  I said (not for the first time) that I wished we lived closer and could benefit more from her grandmothering.

The next morning my mom called me.   She told me that she wanted to teach Braeden keyboarding too.  She would email him assignments and he could email his work back to her.  She'd already ordered him a book.

I readily accepted her kind offer.  I felt so grateful to my dear mother--grateful that Braeden was going to really learn to type.  If my mom senses one of her children or grandchildren need help, she's like Secretariat coming down the home stretch at Churchill Downs.

She's a thoroughbred.