I ♥ Mom

It's hard to think ahead to what life will be like when Oliver gets to be older. Everyone tells you that you never stop being a mom, even after your kids don't need you in the same way they did when they were young. I was reminded of this today.

Wes left for a conference in Orlando yesterday morning, and he had been gone but hours before the house started making noises. I could hear something running, like water. I could hear noise from water pipes. I checked all the bathrooms, where the sound was louder, the washer/dryer, and even poked around in our very creepy basement. Nothing. We hadn't turned on anything in yard, so I didn't even look out there. I called Wes, who didn't answer, and then called my parents. My mom suggested I walk around the house, just check things out. I was four steps out the back door when I heard the water in the front yard. There is a spigot there I forgot about, and it was turned almost full on. I tromped through soggy grass, turned it off, and went inside. I called mom, told her what happened, and she suggested we turn the valve off from the inside and empty the pipes for the winter.

Then this morning, after class, I checked my phone. Two missed calls from my mom. I got worried and stepped outside to listen to them and call her back. She "just wanted to know if I was okay." Turns out she got an email from a friend about a scam going around -- criminals turning on people's water at night, then burglarizing their home or assaulting them when they come out to turn it off. So mom was worried.

So two things I learned: 1) if you hear the water running outside your house after dark, just let it run; and 2) moms never stop worrying.