Memory Monday #6

I missed last week...not because I didn't have a memory, but because I was in the middle of deciding to make this blog private and transfer everything over here. No worries...the memories are back!

This week, I have a question for my dad and siblings: What did Mom teach us to do when we traveled in the car for any distance? Please leave your answers in the comments section and I will update this post in a few days. Since we took a road trip to Utah this week, and I realized that my children have been trained in true Rita Heywood fashion, I wondered if my memories of traveling with Mom are the same as yours?

Memory Monday #5

It's a happy feeling for me to realize that I will probably never run out of memories to share. There have been times in the last 5 weeks that I've been doing this when the thought has crossed my mind, "What if you can't think of something to write?" Grandma was so much a part of our lives that not a day goes by that I don't have a "Mom Moment" as I like to call them. They are the moments when I think of Grandma and something she would have said or done in whatever circumstance I find myself.

On Saturday, Grandpa, Jeremiah and I ran in a race in Fallon. Grandpa and I ran the 5K and Jeremiah ran a half marathon. Grandpa and I posted personal bests, Grandpa winning his age group, and Jeremiah also posted a personal best. It was a successful race day.

As Jeremiah was finishing his race, two hours after starting, I couldn't help but let out a Grandma "WOO HOO!" I think I actually yelled it out a number of times. I thought of Grandma and how she loved to watch her kids and grandkids in their sporting events. We always knew that she was there, because we could hear her: "WOO HOO! WOO HOO!" She was LOUD, and sometimes comical. But I don't think we were ever embarrassed, just happy that our mom was there to watch and cheer us on. I let out a few more woo hoos when Grandpa was awarded his winner's medal. (Unfortunately, I didn't have the camera...I didn't know he was the winner!) As I was yelling loudly and comically, I thought again of Grandma. I like to think that she's in heaven, still cheering us on in all that we do...and if we really listen during the important times, we'll hear her hollering "WOO HOO! WOO HOO!"

Jeron, I hope you'll always remember when Grandma would come to your T-ball games. She loved to watch you play...even though most of the time she was sick, AND T-ball is the slowest moving game known to man. Every time you did something, she yelled "WOO HOO! WOO HOO!"

Oh, how she loved to cheer us on! I can't wait to yell a few woo hoos for Timmy as he graduates from flight school this week...I'm sure Grandma will be yelling a few of her own. WOO HOO!

Memory Monday #4

This one is a hard one for me...it's something I miss so terribly about having Grandma around.

I had the great opportunity to attend the Reno Bridal & Beauty Expo as a vendor this weekend, marketing my photography to potential brides and their entourages. It was a lot of fun. I love photography and I love photographing weddings. Unfortunately, I am a perfectionist and photography is not cut and dry, perfect or not. It is an art form. This is somewhat unfamiliar territory for a left-brainer like me. My greatest weakness in photography is my lack of consistent confidence. That's where Grandma comes in. She was my greatest fan. (I'm sure that every one of her children and grandchildren and grandpa and most of her friends can say the same thing.)

She would look at my pictures before I gave them to the bride and say, "Oh, Heidi, they're beautiful!" And she would say it in such a way that no one would dare dispute it. "They're just gorgeous! They'll be so pleased with these." In those moments, I felt like a perfect photographer.

I remember when I showed Grandma these pictures. She was sitting in my pink chair and she looked at the whole album...I think there were at least 200 prints. She loved them and I felt so good about the work I'd done. I felt confident to give them to the bride and know that she would love them, too. I was a perfect photographer.

Of course, there are many other instances in many other situations that Grandma was my biggest fan. But this is the one that stands out today, the one I miss the most today. I'm meeting tomorrow with a bride from Carson City who's getting married on a yacht on Lake Tahoe on June 20. Some days I just need my mom to tell me I'm good, to make me feel like the perfect photographer I want to be. I am grateful to have had a fan as great as my mom in my life. It makes me want to be a great fan of my children and husband and siblings and dad and others with whom I associate. I may never be a perfect photographer, but I can aspire to be a perfect fan.

I know that all of my siblings are reading these...and rarely commenting...so I am inviting you to share how Grandma was your biggest fan. It's okay if you cry...no one will know unless you tell them. I've been crying the whole time I've been writing this.