True Life: My Mom's Cooler Than Me

The famous Momma J

I was going to hold off and post this for Mother's Day, but my mom is too cool to wait. (Side note, somebody count how many times I say "cool" and comment the grand total). I'm also purposefully posting this one Wednesday, since Wednesdays always make me think of when my mom used to have Wednesday's off of work and would hang with me in the summer. How cool is it that I have a day that constantly reminds me of my mom?

My mom is cool. She always has been, but just recently I had a revelation- my mom is cooler than me. Not that that takes much effort, I'm pretty lame. But still.

When I was in elementary school, I used to have a smidge of jealousy for the other girls who's moms would come into the class rooms. My mom wasn't the PTA mom, the soccer mom, or the carpool mom (granted I NEVER played soccer and didn't need to carpool until the seventh grade). It was never a bad thing, and never truly affected me much, but that's just how it was. And since she always knew what was going on in my school life (like the time I convinced several girls to chop their locks during craft time), I never felt that I was missing out. While my mom might not have been the stay-at-home mother, she was so much more.

My mom was the cool mom. She was the sign-your-excuse-form-mom every time the AIDs talk came around in elementary school because she knew I would probably pass out otherwise. She was the mom who scolded me for watching Secret Life of the American Teenager because she thought it was too race-y for me to watch at 12 years old, but still popped the popcorn and watched it with me. My mom was the one who excused me from 6th hour when I wasn't ready for my first ever psych test because I loved the content so much but was too afraid to take a test and ruin my grade for the class. She was also the mom who dumped a gallon of water on me after my tragic first mile race in track because sports just aren't my thing. She's the mom that wants a tattoo, takes me to crazy music festivals, and My mom was the mom who actively built a relationship with me, even if I fought her along the way.

I know the above doesn't really make her sound like a cool mom, that it maybe makes her sound like the mom who's just doing what she's supposed to, but what's important about all of these things that she's done is this: they built up trust and friendship. I whole-heartedly believe that my mom is so cool (to me at least) because she's truly my best friend. She watches trash TV with me, takes me to the mall when we've got nothing better to do, and is more risky in her Starbucks orders than I could ever be. She's made it a point to get to know my friends and create bonds with them. It may sound weird to some, but it's something I've always appreciated. More of my friends call my mom "momma j" than I can count. Heck, more of my friends are facebook friends with my mom than they are with me (not really, but they like her better and I'm so okay with that). Not only is she someone I come to for advice, but I've had some of my closest friends ask for her opinions. Not many people can say that about their moms, but I can.

I consider myself so lucky to have a mom as cool as mine. Someone who I feel comfortable going to no matter the situation. Someone I willingly call just to chat with, and someone I come home for over the weekends just to hang out with (even if I have two exams, a group paper, and a project to complete). I don't always tell her enough, but she's someone I truly couldn't live without. She would be embarrassed if I shared all of the ways that she's the cool mom, but these are just a few.

I could apologize for bragging about my mom for a little bit, but I'm not sorry in the slightest bit. She deserves it after all that she's done for me over the years, because quite honestly I can be a handful. Thanks for being so cool, mom. You rock.