Guest Post: My Mama Bear (AKA Dawnie)

Hey guys it's Jessie here! For a couple weeks now, I've been begging my mom to guess post on my blog and she has finally given in to my demands. My mom and I are best friends and I am so blessed by her every day. As you will see, she is a pretty awesome writer and she's basically showing me up...but I don't care because I LOVE it! So enough of me, I'd like to introduce my Mama Bear!

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Jessica has always asked lots of questions.  I have always had a love/hate thing going with that trait of hers.  But she is like a pit bull and will not let go until you give her an answer – and it can’t be a fluff answer, it has to be a real answer, or she won’t let go.

Right now my most favorite thing is doing anything mindless, playing mahjong on the computer, reading young adult books (so I don’t have to sift through too much junk), or half watching whatever is on the tv - anything to give my thoughts a rest from the stress of a new job, planning a wedding, college shopping and whatever else in currently on my plate. 

Jessica is taking a child development class, so I get the following texts, “Was I hard to potty train?”, “Did I have a lot of friends as a little kid or more by myself?”, “I wasn’t a big temper tantrum kid, right?” and my favorite, “So what did I do that was weird?”  This is where the hate part comes in - I would prefer to mindlessly play candy crush, but instead I have to think.  Here is where the love part comes in…

When I want to retreat in, Jessica constantly pulls me back out.  I would rather plan her wedding without thinking about our relationship.  Don’t get me wrong, I want it to be the most spectacular day for her and Johnathan, but it would be easier to think of it as just another event than for me to really stop and think about my baby being a grown woman.  Her texts made me remember when she belonged to just me and her dad.   I can’t speak for her dad, though I am sure he shares my feelings. 

She was not hard to potty train – two days is all it took - her prize – 3 m&ms.  Thus her love for chocolate began. Jessica could occupy herself for a long time.  She loved sitting at her little table and writing, coloring, reading or doing puzzles.  Yet, when she was with other children, she would play with anyone – a bit on the bossy side.  I would not say she had a lot of friends, but Jessica was a very loyal friend.  She gave everything of herself and she still has that same way of approaching friendships.  Jessica did not have temper tantrums.  She was a very compliant child – so when she did get really mad it usually made us laugh.  (Sorry J – but you know we did laugh). What did she do weird? She would talk until she lost her voice – not once, not twice, but all the time, throughout the years…  She still plops herself down, usually on top of me, and says, “Come on mom, tell me something.” and wants to talk.  I couldn’t wait until I picked her up from school every day because she would literally talk the entire ride home.  I often reminded her to take a breath.

I have so many moments that I love to bring to mind.  But I would be lying if I didn’t admit to it bothering me that when I see her sitting in the rocking chair in our family room, her feet touch the floor, and I want desperately for her feet to dangle again.  I handled it fairly well, when she was 14 and I had to start sharing her with Johnathan.   But in 2 months, that all changes, I will no longer share her with Johnathan.  Johnathan is going to have to start sharing her with me.