Apprenticemom

We’ve all had a mother figure in our lives. Whether called Mom, Aunt, Grandma, sister, Mrs., or something else, they are the ones that have shaped our lives. They take what they learn and impart that knowledge to us. Even though we are complete idiots sometimes, they still love us. They teach what’s right and what’s wrong. They take time out of their busy days to edit a blog post. They make our experiences in the outdoors possible. My mom does that and more.

            Some moms don’t like to do much in the outdoors – they prefer staying in fancy hotels, shopping or other stuff that I honestly don’t understand.  And while my mom is into stuff like this sometimes, she also is just as comfortable gutting a fish as she is buying shoes.  There’s nothing she likes better than bringing down a goose, and there’s nowhere in the world she’d rather be than The Cabin.

Elk hunting can be a lot of fun – it’s a week in the mountains away from schoolwork, and the prospect of killing an elk and filling the freezer with roasts and steaks that melt in your mouth is exciting.  But it can also be pretty tough work  - and when I’m walking on one of Grandpa’s “Death Marches” (between 10 and 20 miles a day), the thing that keeps me going is the food (I am a 12 year old boy, after all). Apprenticemom, Grandma, and Mama B make sure that we get it. There is nothing better than coming back to cabin in the dark, knowing that taco soup and hot fudge sundae cake awaits.  It keeps us going so that we can get the elk.

When we recently had our annual winter campout for Scouts, ApprenticeDad as “Scout Committee Chairman” was put in charge of getting all the stuff together for the campout. But while Apprenticedad took care of how to win the big competition, Apprenticemom thought about stuff like “how to keep the boys warm, how to keep them dry.” And although we thoroughly enjoyed tying for first place in the activities, we were gladder that we didn’t freeze our fingers and toes off.  In fact, to quote Grandpa, most of us “were hotter than a two dollar pistol.”

            Apprenticemom is the best mom in the world. She hikes with me, she fishes with me, she hunts with me, and she makes sure that I stay warm on winter campouts. She helps me become a better person. Thanks, Mom!

-The Apprentice