Monday, July 4, 2011

The Original Sassy Queenpin Mama or OSQ

My mama is the original Sassy Queenpin or the OSQ. She is an amazing woman who raised three kids and believes in changing the world one small step at a time. My mama was not a single mama, but she is a mama, and she did a damn good job making sure that me, my sister, & brother learned to think outside of ourselves and could manage whatever life threw at us. The following list are the things I love about the OSQ.

*The OSQ believes in God, but she is a little bit of a rebel so she has a hard time committing to a church. Queenpins have a hard time with dogma. Like the Buddha, she taught me to question things and find my own light.

*The OSQ loved my daddy. She believes in passion and she made her marriage a love story, even though sometimes it was a frustrating as Dr. Seuss' Fox in Socks.

*When I told my mama that I had lost my job she said, "This is a good thing. Everything's going to be okay, honey." She is good in crisis.

*The OSQ will make the best of any situation once she has had her say. When I was 19 years old and brought home my ex-crackhead, felon, tattooed boyfriend, she said, "I miss [old boyfriend, name left out to protect the innocent]" the college going, lacrosse playing, very nice guy I was dating. But when I stayed with ex-crackhead for three 1/2 years she treated him like one of the family until I kicked him to the curb, and then she called him a jackass with me (but not too much).

*One of my favorite memories of the OSQ is getting on a bus with a bunch of other women to go to our state capital. We were there to talk to state reps about issues that were important to us. The OSQ walked into one reps' office put her feet up on his desk and told him what she wanted. The woman has got ovaries, and she knows world affairs. On top of that she could charm the pants off a Mormon.

*The OSQ loves my blog and emails it out to all her poor friend that she can make read it. The OSQ is proud of her brood.

*The OSQ can take it. When I tell her I don't like something she does, the OSQ takes it like a woman and either changes or doesn't, but she moves on. She is not a grudge holder.

*The OSQ loves to celebrate. She is a dinner party throwing, birthday celebrating, tradition bending, but tradition loving woman. She can make something mundane into something delicious and interesting.

*My mama is also very generous. She not only gives to charities, but she served on multiple boards, and volunteered places until her 8 grandchildren starting taking over her life. She gives to her children in so many ways we could not count them all and she never has strings attached.

*OSQ has traveled the world and will continue to do so. She takes chances. She wants to learn and experience life. She is an eater of life's cake, when she hits an egg shell in the moist creamy center, she just spits it out (demurely) and bites again.

*My sister, brother, and I tease the OSQ mercilessly. We never let her get away with anything. The OSQ laughs and says, "I know." she is not afraid to laugh at herself, and she'll tease you back, but she never hits below the belt or talks about you behind your back.

*I have stopped trying to live up to the OSQ intellectually. She has two masters degrees, and reads endlessly. She plays it down, but the woman is smart as a whip and I always have to get her to explain world issues to me.

*The OSQ loves to laugh. What can you not enjoy about a woman who loves fun?

I actually have stopped trying to be the amazing, vivacious woman my mother is, because she wants me to be me (except maybe dress better, and pick better men), but just by being her daughter she pushes me to be better. She is not perfect, none of us are, but she is good, and kind, and she will admit her faults. If I had one thing I'd give to the amazing Original Sassy Queenpin Mama it would be to have one day where she saw herself as others see her, but then her head might explode from all that love and admiration.

3 comments:

  1. This is the sweetest post and a wonderful gift to your mother. :)

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  2. love, love, love this post! What a tribute!

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  3. speaking as an objective outsider, plain and simply, OSQ ROCKS. nuff said.

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