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A feel good moment with Liz's mom

Better than an after school special

[December 1, 2009]

Elisabeth Hooker, STCU education outreach officer

About six years ago, after I had graduated from college, I spent an interminable eight months living at home with my parents.

There was a large snowfall soon after the beginning of that year. It was nothing compared to deluges we’ve seen in more recent winters, but heavy enough to cause excitement, after several years of anemic snowfalls.

I remember sitting in the living room, reading a book or doing something equally mundane, to avoid the frustrating job search that was currently the topic of many a parental conversation. I heard a shuffle and the front door being opened and shut. About twenty minutes later my Dad started shaking my shoulder. “Look,” he said, pointing out the window. “Look at what your Mother is doing.”

My mother. My practical, no-nonsense, sweet, ladylike, penny-pinching Scottish mother, was frolicking in the front yard. Two giant snow mounds in the center of the yard became the beginning of what would become our snow family. I ran out the door to join her. Over the next hour we gathered pine cones, pine needles, old scarves and created two snow people reflective of our personal characteristics.

My mother often surprises me. There were times she worked late into the evening at the public library, then would stop on the way home and pick up doughnuts for a midnight snack. Or the time she made my first-day-of-school outfit from laundry room curtains and an old pair of jeans. The time we sat under the kitchen table together ready to ambush my father and brother. A 21st birthday party kit sent to my roommate in Pullman with a bottle of Martinelli’s alcohol-free cider, a cheesecake and a note that read, “be safe.”

In the middle of a frustrating job search, at a time when I wondered if I would ever be able to support myself, I took a moment off from my worries. When I thought the college education, the expense and the time were not really all they were cracked up to be, mom gave me a gift of the unexpected. When nothing seemed like it was ever going to change or look better, my mother showed me I was special, without spending a dime.

That unexpected afternoon made me reassess my attitude and reminded me that I didn’t need great things to happen in order to have a great life. I needed to enjoy the moment.

Not long after that, things started to look up for me. I finally landed an internship and eventually a great job at STCU.

So maybe this winter. When the snow falls and we are feeling frustrated with circumstance, when the bills pile up and we are ready to break. Do something surprising. Do it for you, and for someone you love. Build a snowman in the front yard.

Laughter doesn’t cost anything.