There is Only One Mamacat

Mamacat and "My Angel" 1978

My mom was an original hipster in Portland before all the yahoos started moving there and has the hipster glasses, cute baby girl, trendy dress, hand crocheted afghan and cute renaissance man (taking the photo) love story to prove it.

{How did this happen?}

In 1976 my father ended up on a sight-seeing tour in Salt Lake City with two older Mormon missionary ladies on a whim to see the Salt Lake Temple. He joined one of the said ladies at a family friend's barbecue. He put together a plate of food started sauntering across the lawn, saw the most beautiful woman in the world and wouldn't you know it, tripped on a garden hose and dropped his food into her lap.

That renaissance man was my father. And the most beautiful woman in the world? My mother. It was her dad's barbecue.

HH asked Mamacat out for a date (remember, he was only in town for a few days!) and she said yes.

Three days later HH told Mamacat she should marry him and she told him he was crazy.

He went back to Portland, but guess what?

Eight days after she told him he was crazy, she decided he was right.

34 years, five kids, six grandkids and three cats later they are still the most happily married couple I know.

Six months after she said yes they were married. Mamacat packed it all up in the 'blue honey moon pickup' and they drove to Montana (to meet the new in-laws) and after vehicle trouble (Grandpa D said, "you're going to break down if you haul all of those books!"--and he was right!), meeting the in-laws (rumor is Grandma and Grandpa H picked them up in their pickup and Mamacat rode with them--next to Grandma H smoking cigarillos with a  beehive hairdo up to the roof) repairing the honey moon pick up, honey mooning on the Oregon Coast and settling into a teey tiny house off SE Duke street, they decided they were going to need a bigger house. Then I was born.

Mamacat and Terez's First Thanksgiving with Cousin

It's hard to put into words how much my mother means to me. Instead I'll treat her to a list of reasons why I love her so. Because really, this post is for her:

10. Because she went face to face with Mrs. Edner who gave me a B+ in 6th grade study hall because I didn't make 100% attendance due to chicken pox.

9. Because she had hipster glasses way before I did.

8. Because she got on the carousel with me at Jantzen Beach to just cheer me up after I graduated from University of Oregon and the job prospects weren't looking great.

7. Because she gave me my love of reading: "Teresa, my eyes just aren't happy unless they are reading a book."

6. Because she gave me my love of libraries. We both worked at one through college.

5. Because she's not just Mamacat to us kids but to our friends and in-laws, too.

4. Because she loves each of my brothers and I just the way we each individually need to be loved.

3. Because she didn't get mad when I told her I was going to move to Boston. Instead she made me a polar bear quilt to keep me warm here.

2. Because we talk on the phone nearly every single day, even though we live on opposite coasts and three time zones apart. She never gets mad when I call at 5 or 6 a.m.

1. Because she has always said, "Teresa, no one will ever love you as much as your mother [except your father]" and she has proved it.

I love you Mamacat!

XOXO Your Angel

Mamacat Today