10 Reasons That Make Me A Mountain Mama

Mountain Mama... just another way of saying, and put a bit more nicely, that I am a little bit hillbilly. This coming from a girl that just 2 years ago would still go to Costco in her high heeled boots. A girl that didn't like to even go grab a gallon of milk from the grocery store without make-up on. A girl that thought dirt was intended only to be on the soles of your feet. Things changed when I came to the mountain. And when yesterday, my Dad came to tell us the well was running very low, and that it may dry up soon, and we need to conserve water, (We get all our water from a well on the property. Drinking water, bathing water, cleaning water, etc.) my head went to a funny place about what to do to conserve and I realized that I am a little bit hillbilly, a lot mountain mama... and yes, I know this is a run-on sentence, but that is not a Mountain Mama characteristic, it is just something I rather enjoy doing, so there.

1. You know you are a Mountain Mama when... you hear "Conserve water" and you think to yourself, "Have the boys water the trees instead of using the bathroom, to conserve water... GREAT IDEA!" (If you don't know what I mean by having the boys water the trees... then you are not at all hillbilly. I know my good friend and fellow Mountain Mama, Tara, FULLY understands.)

2. You know you are a Mountain Mama when... you find the fuzzy Ugg like slippers at Target and do your very best to convince everyone around you that they are in fact SHOES, not slippers, even though your family has made it a point to show you that the tag that came on the shoes, YES SHOES, said 'slippers'.

3. You know you are a Mountain Mama when... the floor of your minivan is littered with gravel, pebbles, dirt clusters and you learn to accept that is just part of your mountain mama vehicle's appeal.

4. You know you are a Mountain Mama when... your suburban mom minivan has transformed into an all terrain vehicle and drives like a 4X4.

5. You know you are a Mountain Mama when... your 3 year old has been missing for 1/2 an hour, you don't notice, your mom at the bottom of the mountain points it out to you because he showed up on her doorstep, and you don't even seem to mind that you didn't notice to begin with. (How'd you like that run on???)

6. You know you are a Mountain Mama when... you consider water from the well, in a tall glass, the most amazing drink (an aphrodisiac, if you will.) IN THE WORLD!

7. You know you are (The husband of..) a Mountain Mama when... you can wear your nice, classy leather jacket around the house on a laid back Sunday and no one asks if you are going somewhere because they know it is just because it is so stinkin' cold up on the mountain!

8. You know you are a Mountain Mama when... when you bake a birthday cake and have to use the high altitude recipe on side of the box to make sure it comes out right.

9. You know you are a Mountain Mama when...your grocery list reads something like this: milk, eggs, bread, 3 pairs of sweat pants, juice, bananas. (My boys go through sweat pants like they are going out of style up here, and on the mountain, sweat pants are always, and I mean always, in style.)

10. You know you are a Mountain Mama when... your child comes into the house with blood pouring down the side of his face and stop to take a picture so you can post it on your blog. Being a mountain mama means you get used to lots of cuts, bruises, blood, and injuries.

OH, how I am going to miss this mountain! We are moving back down into town, so my parents can have their house back. So, with this list I also want to add just 10 of the MANY things I will miss about this place:

1. ...the fresh air.

2. ...the freedom of my children being able to run around freely-sometimes in the nude when they think I haven't noticed-without worry of danger lurking near by, unless you worry about coyotes and snakes and that sort of thing.

3. ...the feeling of being one with God because all you see around you is HIS creation.

4. ...the absolute quietness. On this mountain, you can definitely be still and know HE is God. Except during football season, on Charger Sundays.

5. ...the lack of neighbors to my left, right, front, back.

6. ...the ability to walk 100 feet down the mountain and see my mom, anytime of the day.

7. ...the ease of having the best tasting water in the world at my fingertips, day or night.

8. ...the smell of rain on the mountain dirt. There is no smell like it on earth.

9. ...the smiles on my children's faces as they climb trees, scale rocks, and slide down the dirt trail on their bottoms.

10....the best landlords a girl could ever ask for... my parents. (Although they did tie for first with our last landlord's.. Tim's parents...kiss up, you say?? Not at all. They are both wonderful sets of parents, people, Godly examples. We are abundantly blessed.)


I thought you could take the girl out of the city, but not the city out of the girl, BUT I have found it is more like this:

YOU CAN TAKE THE GIRL OFF THE MOUNTAIN, BUT YOU CAN'T TAKE THE MOUNTAIN OUT OF THE GIRL.

xoxo,
Veronica...err, Mountain Mama