Will's Mom

I remember as a new mom having a hard time adapting to people - mostly administrative staff, nurses, and doctors at Will's pediatrician's office - calling me "Will's mom." It wasn't that I didn't like the title, but that the title felt foreign and I couldn't recognize it as mine. I imagine that if you're a parent, or if you're married and changed your last name, you've experienced feeling something similar.  

Eventually I adjusted, and over time "Will's mom" (and Hallie's mom) became the title by which I was referred to more often than almost anything else. The kids' close friends and teammates eventually learned "Miss Erin" or "Mrs. Ferris," but the classmates and friends we didn't see as regularly stuck with "Will's mom" because it was easier and more accurate for them. 

I actually still get called "Will's mom" a lot, despite the fact that the kids are teenagers. For example, a couple of years ago I went for a walk in a neighborhood near our house. As I neared two kids who looked about Will's age, one of them sized me up and then tentatively inquired, "Will's mom?" I stopped, surprised he knew me - I thought he looked familiar but couldn't place him - and responded in the affirmative. He went on to explain that Will had been in his second grade class (MANY years earlier) and I had been the class room mom. This kind of thing happens to me every few months, and it always brings a proud smile to my face...because the reason they "know" or remember me is almost always because they know or remember Will fondly.

As I'm sure you, my regular readers, know, I never miss a Lads game. I love watching my boy play, of course, but I also love helping coordinate our special events, socializing with my soccer mom friends, talking with Tom, explaining soccer to Hallie, and getting to know the students who come to support the Lads. Earlier in the season I met two students (in kind of a funny way, but that's a story for another time) who I really liked - they were polite but also fun and funny, and they were solid fans to boot. I chatted with them that first night and again at multiple games throughout the season, and once I shared my extra Lads treats with them.

What an awesome surprise it was to show up at a game later on in the season to this:

Can you read that? It says, "only here for Will's mom."

I mean, I know they were there for the Lads, but it was still pretty awesome to be Will's mom that night. Actually, it's pretty awesome to be Will's mom most nights.

Oh, and they let me keep the poster. 😉