My mom is in a book that came out this week!

Pssssst.......I'm in there, too. And my two girls. And my 90-year-old grandma. And my dad! The book is "A Day in the Life of the American Woman." (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0821257064/qid=1130205314/theliteraryworld)

I had gotten a newsletter by e-mail from Procter & Gamble or something, and there was a link about the project in that newsletter that caught my eye back in March. You could nominate someone that you thought was an inspirational woman, so I took five minutes and wrote a paragraph about my mom:

My mother, at age 70, is a remarkable woman. She is a retired hairdresser, whom no one could imagine being retired. But from day one of her retirement, she has not sat still. She took up golf and got a hole-in-one. She owns a mountain bike and did GOBA (The Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure), which is a 350-mile one-week camping/cycling trip. She has award-winning flower gardens and has a knack for decorating that rivals Architectural Digest. She has so many creative ideas, and my father is equally talented in his woodworking shop. Between the two of them, they have created some beautiful furniture, home accent pieces, garden sculptures, and so much more. She is a very active member of her local garden club and just recently became a Master Gardener. Her current project as part of the Master Gardener's program is to establish a Children's Garden in her town (Van Wert, Ohio). She is the 'go to' person for fundraising of $50,000 for this project and just last month received word that they will have all they need to go forward with this project this summer, as a result of donations from local businesses and grants. Though she has a busy schedule, she also sees to the needs of her 90-year-old mother, and was instrumental in detecting my father's melanoma. Due to her being so observant, it was detected early and two years post-surgery, he is healthy. She is a very strong woman, who makes life in our family exciting and rich. We are all very fortunate to have her in our lives!


Well, my mom got a phone call from New York a week later and they wanted to send out a photographer and include her in the book! So on April 8th, Sarah Leen, who is a photographer for National Geographic, spent the entire day photographing my mom as she went about her day. She took hundreds of pictures, and in the end, only one got used (one of my mom with my grandma, my two girls and me, with my dad standing over to the side - a 'generations' picture), but what an exciting and thrilling thing it was for my mom to be honored this way.

We're on page 146, if any of you get a chance to see the book!

How exciting and what a wonderful tribute you wrote about your mother. She is truly inspirational! Congratulations to all of you, for the wonderful family you have and for the recognition.

Rachel

Thank you, Rachel.

Let me see if I can attach a copy of the page from the book here........

That is so great!!! Kudos to you, and lots of hugs and loveto your mom :)

Janis

Great photo and what you wrote about your Mom brings tears to my eyes. I'm very happy for your whole family.

What tall daughters you have. Are they basketball players?

LOL. The shorter one (Jenna) was a really good basketball player, but the taller one (Kara) was a golf standout. Well, so was Jenna, and she was a standout as a softball pitcher, too. Jenna was a 'jock.' LOL. Both girls played golf in college. Kara is 5' 10" and Jenna is 5' 7". I'm 5' 4", my mom is 5', and my grandma is (or used to be) 4' 9". I wonder how tall my girls' children will be!

This is great!

What a good-looking group of peoples!

Poor dad....looks left out! lol!

That is so awesome. Your mom and grandma look wonderful. Your original story was so heartwarming it brought tears to my eyes. You all are so blessed to have each other.

Casey

Wow, that is great!!!! and what a great picture....

Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments! You have no idea what a great memory that day is for me. I know my mom will not be with me forever, although that very well could have been reversed. In January of 1999, I came down with bacterial meningitis and nearly died. I don't say that glibly, and if any of you know how deadly b. meningitis (not the viral kind) is, you know I'm extremely fortunate to be here. I spent 8 days in the hospital, two of those in an unconscious state while my family and friends prayed I would wake up. I was in intensive care for six of those days, and had a three-month recovery period at home, where my mom took care of me, cooking and cleaning for my family. She didn't stay with me that whole time, but I could not have managed totally by myself. I'm additionally blessed, in that I don't have many lingering effects from the meningitis, except for joint pain that is constant (they believe it's a result of the meningitis), and an occasional memory lapse (different than the normal memory lapses everyone gets).

So, you see, the moment you see in the picture almost never happened. And that's just the 'almost' in MY life. Every single person in that picture has an event that could have prevented them from being there.

About two weeks after the photo day, my mom called me to come to her house. I got there and she gave me this wonderful card, expressing her thanks for nominating her and telling me how she would treasure that day and what I did. Then she gave me the most gorgeous necklace, which had a small diamond on it, with a beautiful 'frame' around it (I can't think what those are called). She said she was waiting for a special time to give it to me. It was the diamond from her original engagement ring. She and my dad have been married for 53 years.

Congrats to you again, and especially on winning your fight with bacterial meningitis. My at the time 7 year old daughter got bacterial meningitis after a brain surgery last year, and I know how horrible it is. You and my little one were both very lucky.

You already know this but treasure your parents and family. You never know when the time may come that they are no longer there.

Hugs,
Janis

.. kbaumle ..

I reckon ya know, that God jes haint finished with ya yet! ((hugs))

53 years!! .. What a magnificently blessed milestone in their journey together!! And, geezers .. look at the fantabulous 'fruits' of their labor, dedication, and their love.
Simply, awesome!!

((hee)) .. One can't help but wonder if your Dad was taking advantage of the opportunity to be a few steps from such a grand passle of gals. (merely luvinly teasin' ya a bit kbaumble - no harm or offense is intended in any way!) Besides, the distance in the pic .. seems to actually draw more attention to the many other wonderful lil details of all of you guys. A truly wonderful shot!!

Two beautiful gals and with such athletic gifts .. it's gotta make a 'momma' (and a grandyma, and a great-grandymaw) .. most delightfully proud, to say the least. .. lol ..

Your Mom is most assuredly proud of her wonderful family! Your Grandma probaby even more so. The photo undeniably eminates much love, joy, pride and honor. No doubt that your Mom feels that the diamond necklace represents merely a small token of her reciprocal love and caring, that you give to her .. unconditionally. With its precious sentimental gem, it will surely remain a most treasured family heirloom, very dear to your hearts.


.. Woofens .. So wonderful to 'read' of your daughters triumph also! ((hugs))

- Magpye

You bet I know that. The only reason I'm still here is because of the hundreds of prayers that were said on my behalf. When I was in the ER in Ft. Wayne, the doctor told my family, "We've done all we can. Now you need to pray." And they did. And hundreds of people all over the country. And I could feel that, was very aware of it once I regained consciousness. It was amazing.

Our entire family has been VERY blessed.

And not having been on the other side of meningitis, as a mother, I can't even imagine what that was like for you, Janis, with your daughter. Is she doing okay, now?

A beautiful story...now *that's* the kind of 'stuff' I like to read on the internet!!

Thanks for sharing the story and the photo.

Your mom sounds like mine!

Magpye, thank you so much :)

kbaumle,
Tori is now doing wonderfully. I was a long hard struggle, but to see her today you would never know that she almost died last year. She has a genetic skull defect, her skull was too small for her brain (I also have the condition, as does my other daughter and probably both of my sons) but hers was severe enough to require surgery. On September 10, 2004, she had a posterior fossa decopmression, a C1 laminectomy and a cadaver dura patch put in. Basically, they enlarged the opening at the base of her skull around her spinal cord, removed half of her c1 vertabrea, and put a cadaver patch in the dura (covering of her brain). We came home from the hospital on September 13. On September 17, we were in the midst of the horrible flooding that hit the OH valley last year, and she had developed the b. meningitis, and we couldn't get her to her surgeon, or even a hospital with a pediatric unit. We spent the night in a local hosp, and then were taken by ambulance to Pittsburgh the next day. They put her on massive doses or steriods to combat the meningitis, and antibiotics, and medicine to procect her stomach from the steriods. We came home on September 21. On September 24, she wasn't able to hold anything down, and back to the doctor we went. Her pediatrician admitted her into a local hospital, and she was life flighted to Pittsburgh the following morning for emergency stomach surgery due to a perforation in the stomach caused by the steriods. We spent 20 days in the hospital that time. When I finally brought her home the last time, she had lost almost 20 pounds, and couldn't walk or hardly even hold herself sitting up. She had intensive physical therapy to return to the shape she was in before surgery. The original surgery allowed her to have normal growth purts tho, in the first 6 months following hte surgery, she not only gained back the 20 pounds she lost but also gained over a pound and grew an inch a month!!
To see her today, she just looks like any other 8, almost 9 year old. She does still have some limitations, she is considered mildly retarded, with many other issues, but she is SO much better than she was before. I was told I would never carry a child to term, almost lost her 3 times during my pregnancy, and again after she was born she had apnea spells, and we found her once blue. We named her Victoria Noelle, our Christmas born conqueror (SP?) and she has certainly lived up to her name :)

Thanks so much for sharing your story.... and huge hugs to you and yours
This picture was taken the first day of school this year

Janis

((heaps o'hugs)) to ya Janis .. and the blessings of your wonderful children!!

Tori is a part of a much greater plan than most any of us wee mortals could ever begin to grasp the concept. Thank you, for sharing more about Tori's struggles and strengths.

What miraculous gifts are our children, that are merely loaned to us.


kbaumle .. The power of prayer has certainly proven to be an amazingly awesome force, haint it !! ..

Much love, to the both of you .. and your spectacular families!!

- Magpye

Oh, Janis, she's beautiful!! I'm so thankful she's still here, even though I'll never meet her. Please give her a big hug from me, a fellow survivor.

Kylee

Oh, and yes, Magpye, miracles do still occur. :-)

What a totally uplifting thread! Kylee, I so enjoyed reading about your mom and family. And Janis, I had no idea about your miracle girl Tori. Thanks for the smiles tonight. God is sure good to us. :)

You know, gardenwife, reading this was uplifting to me as well. It's good to be reminded of our blessings. And now, I want to post a couple pictures of my girls...just because. ;-)

The first one is of Kara, the oldest (25), taken three weeks ago, when she and Adam got engaged.

And Jenna, at my mom's last Christmas:

You know, my dear DH doesn't even get mentioned in this thread, but he's such a sweetie, truly, I just have to. Here he is, with Jenna. It's a scanned picture, but it's one of my favorites of him.

Awww, I'm smiling here. :) :)

Kylee ..

So glad you've opted to include your hubby. I shall make the wary assumption, that your gals got their stature from their Dad (?) .. (hee)

Beautiful gals Kylee .. and wonderful pics.

With a new addition to the family soon too! Sunny-laws can be truly wonderful .. least our daughters attempt to convince us forth-with!! .. LoL .. (merely luvinly teasin' ya a bit) Best wishes to the new couple ...

- Magpye

Thanks!

Yes, his side of the family is much taller than ours. My DH is 6' tall. And I am looking forward to having Adam be a part of our family. I told him I would try to be a good MIL!

Just found this thread and am so happy to read it! Happy endings. Sigh.

I work in the Bacteriology lab of a local hospital. I know how serious bacterial meningitis can be. I'd say the Good Lord has a good plan for your life, one which isn't finished yet!

Absolutely, nap! :-)

When it really hit me just how serious everything was, was when I had my first check-up post-meningitis. When my doctor walked in the room, he sat down and looked at me and said, "WOW. I would never have believed that we'd be having a conversation. I've only seen one worse case of meningitis in all my years of practice." I didn't ask what happened with that person. I can just about guess. :-( He said when he saw me sitting in the reception area, he had no idea who I was. He couldn't believe that I was the same person that came into the ER that Sunday morning.

Life is GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kylee, what a wonderful tribute to your mother. She's not only an inspiring lady, she's a lucky mother to have a daughter who appreciates her so much :-).

To both you and Janis, I just have to say how in awe I am about all you and Tori have gone through and survived! Janis, I have no idea how you dealt with seeing yoru daughter go through such a terrifying experience. All three of you ladies have my deepest admiration!

-Julie