My Mother is a Superhero
Like seriously, let me tell you about her Super Powers!
My mother is a Superhero.
No, seriously, she is.
She doesn’t wear a cape but she certainly possesses supernatural powers while being dedicated to fighting evil so per Wikipedia, I think that makes her a Superhero.
I didn’t always know that she was. When you grow up with someone, you’re familiar, almost too familiar.
But as I got older, I slowly realized more and more who my mom really is and more and more how she impacted and continues to impact the world around her.
Superhero Power — Family Lineage!
My mother was born on May 1, 1946, 7 minutes before her twin, Paul.
There were three siblings and they grew up on a farm together in Azalia, Indiana. They often played together, building tents in the living room, hiding in the house, and playing Monopoly.
They did chores in the garden, they had steers in 4-H, and they picked tomatoes from their fields that would be sent to the canning center in Columbus, Indiana.
They had a pond next to their home where they would play hockey with sticks and rocks during the wintertime. “Dad always had to go down and cut out a big chunk of ice to make sure we wouldn’t fall through!”
For school, they were in a 4-room schoolhouse with a gym and cafeteria. There were 7 kids in my mom’s class. And her dad was the 7th and 8th grade teacher, the basketball and baseball coach, and the principal. Her aunt was the 5th and 6th grade teacher. And her mom was the main substitute.
Her great-great grandfather moved to Indiana from North Carolina to escape the legalities of slavery because he was a Quaker and didn’t believe in slavery. When he built his home on a hill in Azalia, they added a hide-a-way in the basement for runaway slaves. It was a trap door that they would put a rug over with the kitchen table on top of that.
The runaway slaves would go from house to house down to the White River. Her great-great grandfather, John Hall (*author’s note: also my namesake), would tell stories of being in the fields making stacks of hay when runaway slaves came through the area. They were being chased and he would hide them in the haystacks. Slave hunters would come by and ask, “Which way did the slaves go?” Being a Quaker, John couldn’t lie. So he pointed right at the haystacks where the slave catchers assumed he was pointing far off in that direction and would run off in the distance trying to catch up to them.
The runaway slaves would be hid throughout the day before escaping through the night.
…
Superhero Power — Teaching!
Teaching was the only profession my mother ever thought about. Both of her parents were teachers and many others in her family as well. “When I was growing up, there weren’t a lot of options for women. We could be teachers, secretaries, or nurses.”
But teaching wasn’t just something my mom fell in to. She was passionate about it and poured her heart and life into it… for 40 years. Yes, you read that right, 40 years of teaching. 4 years in inner-city Indianapolis signing her first contract for $5,800 a year, 5 years at Southeast Fountain where rumor has it, she had the Ultimate Warrior in her 4th grade class. I’m not even kidding! Dad confirms that it’s true, mom confirms that he was there at the same time. She had some other stops along the way, and then 29 years as a 1st grade teacher in Rockville, Indiana.
“I loved helping kids learn. I loved helping 1st graders learn to read. They would come to 1st grade not knowing how to read and leave in the spring knowing how to read. I worked with kids who were a little slower and enjoyed helping them develop their skills in reading and math.”
Not one for pomp and circumstance, she gets straight to the point… she loved helping kids. And might I rephrase that, she loves helping kids. Might I rephrase that once more, she loves helping everyone.
…
Superhero Power — Serving!
My mother is active in her local church and by active I mean… teaching children’s church and Sunday School, serving at VBS, being in charge of snacks for VBS, picking up anyone who needs a ride to VBS… or church… or anywhere for that matter, she’s Chairman of the church’s Mission’s Committee, she’s part of the Women of Service team at church… and on the side, she serves on the FAME (Medical Missions) Board of Directors AND in case you thought I was finished… she’s been to Mexico to help build a house / church, went to New Orleans for Hurrican Katrian relief, traveled to Brazil on a medical boat, to Honduras for a medical clinic, to Poland to work with families, and to Zimbabwe to work with orphans and children-at-risk.
The trip to Zimbabwe was particularly special for me because we went together! Kids literally asked her to be their ‘mom’ and ‘grandma’ and she took it seriously. Contacting them when possible and sending care packages of school supplies and other things she thought they’d like.
Are you tired yet? Because Dianna isn’t finished.
After her son-in-law passed away at the age of 33, she read that best thing she could do when grieving was to reach out to people. So she did. She started taking the older ladies in the community out to lunch and planning outings for people in the church family.
“The hardest time of my life was losing our son-in-law William. He was more like a son than a son-in-law.”
She started mentoring three 3rd grade girls who are now Freshman in High School.
“Why’d you decide to do that mom?”
“They needed someone… I was retired. I felt like it was something I could do to help kids who need someone in their life to be an encourager and to help them make good decisions.”
Wow mom! I’m inspired to go make good decisions right now.
Amongst other things, she’s President of the Rockville Woman’s Club, involved in Tri Kappa (philanthropic group), Delta Kappa Gamma (Teacher’s organization), and the Indiana Retired Teachers (mom was also on the front lines protesting for teachers who were always low on the pay scale… I remember this because I got out of school because all the teacher’s were protesting, kids love that stuff, ya know).
Now you know why I call her Rockville’s ‘Mayor.’ I mean, she’s probably getting more done than the Governor. Definitely the President. Whoa, sorry! Shouldn’t have gone there. It’s a conservative neighborhood there in Indiana. Don’t go, the story is just heating up. Back to my mom…
Superhero Power — She’s a MOM
Being a teacher wasn’t everything she was, mostly, she was a mom.
And a faithful loving spouse for 47 years and counting!!
I asked her kids about some stories about their mom. Aka, I texted my sisters. And they never stopped texting back. Like so many texts I couldn’t keep up. And I had to wait until days later to get them all compiled and copied down for editing.
I planned on writing this all in a couple of hours and posting on Mom’s birthday. But now, Teacher’s Appreciation Week has arrived, and soon, Mother’s Day! …so back to writing.
Superhero Power — She Shows Up!
The common theme from her kids was, “She always shows up when you need her.” Like always, superhero style. “If you need her and ask her, SHE. WILL. COME. THAT IS A FACT.” — Kelli (*emphasis added by author)
Not only did her and dad never miss a game, a concert, a musical, a play… they would also drive us to every practice, every 4-H meeting… EVERYTHING. Always.
I played on all these basketball teams that practiced hours away so mom would pick me up after school, take me to practice, sit in the car and grade papers, and then we’d go home. I never thought much about it at the time. She’s mom, isn’t that what moms do? I mean sort of, because MOMS are amazing!! But it’s also not normal to do that, it’s incredibly self-sacrificial.
Angie shared how mom drove with her to Washington, D.C. when she decided to move there. I’m doubting mom and dad wanted their daughter moving to Washington, D.C. (because of a boy*). Angie didn’t have a job or permanent housing but had decided to make the move. She’s feisty like her mother. But no matter what they thought at the time of her decision, she received their full support! Mom hopped in the car with Angie on the way to D.C., rode along the whole way, gave her $400 and prayed for her everyday! (Angie married the boy*)
When Angie had a miscarriage, mom stayed with her for a week to help care for her.
When Angie’s husband William became ill, mom moved in with them for 6 months so help take care of things. She would drive all over Los Angeles looking for wheat grass for him. She would get up early every morning to juice for him. She did anything that needed to be done.
Speaking of waking up early mornings… I was that high school kid whose mother still woke him up to get him out of bed and to school. Oh, is that too much to share here?
When she visited Kelli and Angie in Tennessee and Washington, D.C., she would drive 2 hours to pick up my grandmother, her mother-in-law, and bring her as well. She even brought Grandma down to Texas and Virginia to visit me! I mean, who takes that long of car rides with their in-laws, I’m impressed!
When Kelli broke her arm, she stayed the night in the hospital room and when Kelli had surgery this past summer, she went to Tennessee and stayed with her for two weeks.
“There were challenges along the way for sure, but I thoroughly enjoyed being a mom.”
“Wait mom, was that ENJOY or ENJOYED. Sounds like you’ve retired as a mother as well?”
“ENJOY, I ENJOY being a mom.”
“Oh, okay mom, just wanted to make sure.”
Superhero Kryptonite — Heights!
Okay, okay, every Superhero has a weakness and my mom’s is hominy and heights.
But even then… she found a way to overcome her weakness.
Superhero Power — Special Abilities!
Mom also recycled before recycling was cool. She would drive 45 minutes to Terre Haute and sort her recycling for the different bins. And she doesn’t get a dime a can like I do in Oregon, she did it out of the goodness of her heart.
Before there were seatbelt laws, she would pack the car full of kids to take to VBS… she would just keep stuffing them in. And when seatbelt laws came into effect, well, she let her kids help change her habits by charging her a dime every time she forgot to put hers on.
Mom would play game after game with me growing up… Monopoly, Life, Payday and lots of badminton outside. Mom and dad were also our T-Ball coaches.
And even though they didn’t have a lot of money, mom and dad would take us out of town and they coined them as ‘mini-vacations’ and found ways to make them extra special.
“I loved being a mother! It was fun to do activities. To see you grow. To watch you participate in sports and concerts and plays.”
“Loved or love mom?”
“I love being a mother, John!”
“Being a working mother, and valuing education, it gave Kelli and I perspective as females of having an expectation that we would also have career and personal pursuits as women.”
I feel like we’re just getting started but I’m gonna wrap this up. When we were three little kiddos (ages 5, 7, 10), mom was getting us all ready and taking us to school, and working full-time as a teacher, and cheering on dad while he worked on his doctorate and was teaching at Purdue University, and making us meals, and giving us baths (ok maybe just me, I don’t know what age that stops), and putting us to sleep, and then waking us up and doing it all over again. Hindsight, I have no idea how she did it. How in the world did she find the time? And yet, she did. Somehow she was always there. Everywhere. Always. And still is.
Conclusion
So is my mother really a Superhero?
Duh.
Yes.
