Mom (in blue, right of center) with a bunch of her crew

While there’s no pictures of this outdoor MVP holding a big bass or posing at the tailgate with a load of fur, there’s no doubt that Mom was highly involved and played the crucial roles behind the scenes.

Kind of like, well, being a mother.

Travel Planner – Traditional Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend camping trips for a family of six required an incredible amount of attention in terms of food, clothing and gear especially when some of the crew weren’t very big.

Cook – Equally adept with campfire, Coleman stove or kitchen, Mom always provided plenty of grub whether traditional fare or a wide variety of wild game.  Normally you’ve gotta be leery of a cook who won’t eat their own meal and while Mom elected to forego the wild game portion of the menu after prep, I guess it was just the unselfish motherly quality of making sure there was enough to go around.

Cleaner – Creek mud, grass stains, fish slime and various other interesting outdoor grime tracked into the house on kid or clothing was yet another unenviable task (by the way, Dad should probably just count as a fifth kid in some of these items).

Physician – Bites, scrapes, cuts, bruises and so on were ailments that fell under her care and were dealt with in the effective manner a good mother possesses.  Poison ivy was another nemesis for some of us kids that generally succumbed to Calamine but ran rampant a few times.  In those cases, mom was chauffeur to the clinic.

Zookeeper – Corralling four youngsters can be rather taxing no matter indoors or outdoors but our backyard also provided lodging for coon dogs and even some coons way back when.

Photographer – Thinking about it now, there’s an understandable reason why mom isn’t in that bunch of outdoor photos that used our backyard or driveway as a backdrop.  You see, once upon a time there were no timers, let alone selfies, on what were actually, and strictly, cameras so somebody had to sit it out and push the button for the subjects to bask in the glory.

Plenty more stuff, of course, but I’ll leave it with one final bit that will always convey that Mom knew how important time spent outdoors was for this kid.  One evening back in the early 80’s while I was in high school, the catfish were really biting at Lake Bracken on a school night.  Well, you can’t just walk away from a situation like that so I end up pulling in the driveway with my three years younger brother, Brent, in tow, a bit after 11:00pm.  At this point we’re finally both a little worried about how this is going to go down with Mom and Dad.  Mom is awake, of course, and pulls me aside saying, “In the future, try not to keep your brother out so late.”

Thanks, Mom and Happy Mother’s Day.

You know, the mother of my kids has remarkably similar motherly qualities…weird.  Happy Mother’s Day, Julie, and thanks for all you do in getting us outside.

Talk to you later.  Troy