In Honor of Mothers Day (a.k.a. Mums’ Day), we at Daily Struggles are proud to present The Top Ten Rundown–the top ten memories, things we love, traits we admire, or moments we’ll never forget, about each of the Moms in our life. Let’s get started!
10. For years, I thought the way she and Daddio said "about" and "again" was extremely awesome because it was just like the way the kids on Nickelodeon said those words. I thought it was some kind of ultra-cool dialect. (I later realized it was because Gram was raised French-Canadian, and the old-school Nickelodeon shows featured Canadian-based actors and actresses.)
09. Two words: Boundless energy.
08. Superb taste in perfumes (I have purchased several kinds of perfume after falling in love with them on Gram or on the tray on Gram’s bathroom counter–most recently Samsara).
07. Gram-centric memories: apple juice in the kitchen of their old house, floor tiles reminiscent of melty ice cream, and lots of color, especially fuschias and teals.
06. Rissa in New York City at age 13, and pretty naive–some random dude walks up to Rissa and Gram immediately post-flight and starts reaching for me saying, "Hey, c’mon, I’ll take you in my taxi…" and Rissa thinks, "Oh, how nice! We don’t even have to flag one down!" and Gram, knowing better, gives a solid pull on Rissa’s hand and glare at the creepy dude that sent him scurrying in the other direction. Awesomely.
05. Two more words: handmade jewelry.
04. More Gram-related memories: a glass tic-tac-toe set with gold x’s and o’s that fascinated me when I was young, and a tall slender statue-figure that stood on or near the record player that played soft jazz at dinner time.
03. The awesome and healthful food Gram introduces–most recently, the spinach mango avocado salad that simply rocked my world.
02. Braving horizontal sleet and snow on a "lovely" "spring" day in Chicago for a many-block hike to a CLE program I was attending.
01. She raised Daddio, who happens to be one of the coolest guys I know. And a very significant part of why I personally exist. So, you know, debt of gratitude there.
10. I have no idea what her Evanston apartment actually looked like, but the clips stored in my memory make it seem awesome. Except for the shower that would come on by itself and scare the bejeezus out of a bathing Rissa.
09. Assisting Mums in extracting Rissa’s head from in between the headboard’s slats where Rissa somehow managed to get it stuck.
08. Always room for one more animal in need of a good home.
07. My first steady, paying babysitting customer.
06. Cinnabar.
05. Excellent source of good hand-me-down clothing (which sometimes still carries some Cinnabar fragrance!).
04. Best use of do-rag and Carlos Santana albums for housework and laundry.
03. Christmas Eve dinners (in recent years, accompanied by scented soap placecards!).
02. Mary : Party Dress :: Monty : Dust Rag :: Mums : Spiffy bowl haircut
01. For realizing the little red wagon she was pulling felt just a little too light, and going back to fetch the fallen-out-toddler-Rissa who was seated perplexedly in the middle of the road during an otherwise routine stroll around the neighborhood.
10. "I could say something about this. And I will."
09. Sitting on the Easy Street porch and asking her to, "Tell me about the Olden Days."
08. Taking over the role of Second Mom when Daddio was in the hospital after The Accident
07. "You’ve gotta spend money to save money!" (Excellent life lesson.)
06. "I’m going home and going to bed, and I’m not gonna bop it or pull it or any of that crap."
05. "Well, then you better get started." (In response to Dad’s claim that he was going to waste away before her very eyes without prompt food intake.)
04. "I like meeting people that think they’re better than me. No one’s ‘better’ than me."
03. "I think you’re marvelous!"
02. "Once upon a time there were two little boys who were content to play with the crap in their Grandma’s closet. But now it don’t mean diddly-dip to them and they don’t play with nothin’."
01. For reveling in and celebrating the little kids we once were, and for supporting and adoring the adults we became–even though she’d really prefer that we’d stayed little kids. (Me too, sometimes, Grandma… me too.)
10. Those big brown eyes that she only gave to one of her kids…
09. Never complaining about 3am phone calls and tears on her shoulder.
08. Teaching her kids that what will be will be, and while you control your own destiny, there must be a certain amount of faith in some of the forward steps you take.
07. There are times when life just bottoms out, and you can either sob until it hurts or you can laugh over the exploded baked beans in the microwave while crying, because at least laughing ’til it hurts hurts a little less.
06. Three rounds of algebra homework, three rounds of "St. Louis by dinnertime" story problems, three rounds of "creative" "art" assignments that required bizarre items and unfathomable grading measurements, three rounds of adolescence, three rounds of final exam panic attacks…
05. Teaching by example that a lap full of little dogs is the best way to keep yourself snuggly during a quick nap.
04. Being the first to believe her kids when they said something wasn’t quite right, even though others kept insisting that everything looked perfectly normal.
03. Pushing Rissa in a stroller as a baby. And as a toddler. And as a kindergartner. And until Rissa quite literally no longer fit in the darn stroller and was forced to get off her butt and walk.
02. Buying the little red tape recorder so that she could avoid the instinct to just eat her young when mommy’s ears became insufferably, unhealably, desperately tired.
02 1/2. Beefus!
01. For giving me, you know, life and whatnot. And for endless support and belief in a better tomorrow, and for being my best friend even at times and through situations that no other friend could weather, and for not actually banning ice cream from her house even though she wants to just because Daddio and Rissa find such ludicrous joy in it… and for telling me "No" when I want to throw in the towel or declare defeat. For being stronger than she realizes. For being the beauty in this world she can see elsewhere but never sees when she looks in the mirror.
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I’m Marissa, can-do-ologist, perpetual Curious George, and daily adventurer. 
