Charitable Cause: Dallas Junior Wheelchair Mavericks
What is your favorite memory as a mother?
So many great memories! One of my favorites was making masks out of construction paper, safety pinning bright colored towels around me and my two and four year old, opening the windows and skylight of our blue Volkswagen Bug and driving around town being singing the theme song to Batman at the top of our lungs! We were superheroes extraordinaire!
What is the best or worst “mom purchase” you’ve ever made and why?
The best purchase I ever made was at Christmas around 1989. That was the year I purchased my precious Mollie, a golden Lhasa Apso. I put her in a box, with food, hot water bottle, bed and bow with a note that said, “To the Normans – with love, Santa! Then I had a neighbor deliver the package Christmas Eve in the middle of an extended family celebration. It took months for them to figure out who the real Santa was!
If you could know the absolute and total truth to one question, what would you ask?
As I look around the world today, I see so much darkness, so much evil. There is way too much unnecessary and unexpected pain in the lives of so many. So much of it is the result of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Therefore, I think the one question I would want an answer to is “Why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?” Why is there so much evil? Whatever happened to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind – and love your neighbor as yourself?
What is the craziest thing one of your kids has done?
When my oldest son Lee was in college, he made a decision to try sky diving. No one in my family had ever sky dived before. I, of course was totally opposed to it, but that didn’t stop him. In those days there were no cell phones or email. On the appointed day, I was a nervous wreck, sitting by the phone, chewing my fingernails as I waited for the landline to ring. Never was I more relieved to hear his voice and those immortal words, “The Eagle has landed!”
What was your biggest misconception about being a mom?
My biggest misconception about being a mom was that I would be perfect – the most fun, loving, organized, patient mom in the world. No one told me that boys love bugs, snakes, wrestling, playing in the mud and screaming at the top of their lungs at all hours of the day and night. Perfect no, tired yes -definitely not superwoman! I’m just glad I survived!
What is the most useless or unique talent you have?
When my boys were two and four, we played a game at the grocery store. I piled my cart full of groceries. When we got to check out, I shouted out how much I thought the bill would be – $82.97! 54.41! This was before I-phones and calculators, mind you. The boys held their breath. If I was within $5.00, they had to take their naps without complaining. If I was over $5.00, they got a free ice cream cone. They had more than their share of naps and less than their share of ice cream. I was that good!