“Tuesday, January 31st, 1995, at 10:02 pm, that’s the day I got my best friend for life.”

 Some of you might think, “Oh that’s so sweet, it’s Taylors sibling or cousin.” 

No, it’s my Momma! My Momma is my best friend and always will be. Everyone who meets me knows or soon finds out that me and my Momma are very close. We’ve always been close ever since I was a kid. When I was in grammar school, my Momma was off every Wednesday from work. I used to get “Wednesdayitis” and had to miss school because of “sickness”. Back then I had a standardized parent note on file at the front office. Every teacher knew most Wednesdays I would be out of school or I would come for half a day then leave “sick.” Those days made some of the best memories. We would go to the mall and shop or sometimes we would just stay at home and work out in the yard. Just spending time together was worth missing school and having to do extra work. Momma is one of those moms who isn’t strict, but she has expectations and you don’t want to let her down. Her expectations are not much; you just have to try hard, show up, and just get the work done that you’re supposed to. If you do those things she’ll be so proud of you. 

Momma has a sense of humor about her that most people really don’t know. She’s one of the funniest people I have ever been around and really will speak her mind if she needs to. She has that southern lady humor for sure. The “bless your heart” persona. One of the funniest stories about my Momma happened on vacation. There is always a big group of us, and we are always telling stories from 20 years back. A big bunch of us were sitting around the living room, listening to Momma tell this story about chasing Dad around Woodbury or McMinnville, and the story included some girl who was was “big trouble” and so on. This story was so long, and finally at the end of it she was telling about this girl and how crazy she was. Momma goes, “She was pyscho with a capital S!” I swear we all just lost it. It was like a scene in Steel Magnolias when Clairee tells Milan to “Slap Ouiser at the cemetery to make her feel better.” We just couldn’t help but laugh. Mom just has that sense of humor that can make anyone laugh in the middle of a funeral service without even trying. I have so many stories that would make you cry from laughing so hard, but it would probably embarrass her if I told them so I’ll just keep them to myself.

Momma always has a way of showing love no matter what. Even if she was scolding you for doing something you were not supposed to do, you could still feel the love in the punishment. I don’t know how she did it, but she did. Ever since I could remember, Momma always said being a mother was the greatest gift God ever gave her. She always talked about how when she was a kid she always wanted to grow up, be a Momma, and have a house full of kids. Well, she only got one. I think it’s because she could only handle one of me.

 Growing up, though, the love I felt from Momma was so comforting. I knew when she hugged me nothing compared and I was always safe. I felt the warmth that radiated off her skin and the calmness that I heard from her heart beat. I remember when kids were embarrassed to hug their parents when out in public, I never was. I always hugged my mom and dad and still do to this day. I always enjoyed spending time with my parents. At night I sat in the living room and watched tv with them and cuddled up on the couch in between them. We watched our favorite shows and had conversations about our days and plans we had for the weekends. As a kid I truly felt loved. To this day I always tell them I love them, even if we are fighting, before I leave. You never know if it might be the last time you see them. 

Throughout life Momma was supportive in everything I wanted to do. If I wanted to try a sport, she let me do it, If I wanted to try out for a play, she let me do it. If I wanted to try an instrument, she let me do it. She never held me no. She always pushed me to do everything and let me do it to my full potential. The only thing she really didn’t want me to do is go to college. It was really funny because when I was in high school, in sophomore year you had to start thinking about where you wanted to go to college. I always wanted to move away for college and wanted to have the college experience. I didn’t want to live at home and go to MTSU and do what everyone else did. So, I looked at going to Tennessee Tech, which was not that much farther but it did mean I had to move. My Momma begged me not to go. She told me it would make me question my beliefs, do drugs, and become a bad kid. (Did I mention that not only is she funny, she has a tendency to be VERY dramatic?) But I did none of that. I think now she is glad I went to college because It gave me some of the best memories, friends, and a great career. But when I did go to college and I wanted to give up and come home, she wouldn’t let me. She said, “You wanted to go up there and you wanted to go to college. You are going to finish it.” I’m glad she made me finish because it was one of my greatest accomplishments. 

The thing that my Momma has that I think no one else can compare to is her selflessness. She is the most selfless person I know and I’m so grateful that she is. I know I take her selflessness for granted most of the time, but I’m so thankful for her and selflessness because I don’t know if I would be here today if it wasn’t for her. When I was diagnosed with cancer back in December of 2022, she literally dropped everything to be my caregiver. Since the day I found out I would have open heart surgery and my pathology came back as cancer, she has never left my side. She’s been with me every step of the way. Not many people would do that, not even for their kid. She’s given up time with my dad to help me, taken care of me physically, emotionally, and financially. 

She’s left people in her salon chair with color on their hair because I’ve had a headache that turned into a brain bleed. She’s given up so much to fulfill the role of being a mother and caregiver. She has spent countless nights watching me sleep making sure I kept breathing. She has slept straight up in a hospital chair for 9 days, not leaving my side while I struggled with chemo related infections. Setting alarms every two hours making sure my headaches haven’t gone out of control or symptoms of a stroke haven’t formed. She’s shaved my head when hair started falling out with chemo and has rubbed my feet when they’ve been so swollen that I couldn’t walk on them. She’s woken up at 3am multiple days a week to take me to get poison pumped into my veins to hopefully get a couple more years of living. 

She’s prayed with me and cried with me. When I get mad she’s been the one I take my anger out on. She’s endured a lot through this awful journey. I know she doesn’t want to endure, but she would not pick anywhere else to be besides here with me. She’s asked God to heal me and let me live a little longer. She’s begged and pleaded with the doctors to give any treatment that could possibly work or send me somewhere that could do something for me. She’s been my advocate, my support, my emotional punching bag, and everything in between. She’s my best friend and my rock I lean in on hard times. She’s the one that tells that we have to lean on God and pray that it gets better. If it wasn’t for her I know I couldn’t do this life. She’s my person for sure. I just want to thank my Momma for being the selfless person that she is and having the heart that she does. If it wasn’t for her, Dad and I wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves. Our lives are way brighter with Lisa Blanton in them. Everyone knows I will always be a Momma’s Boy! 

“A mother is your first friend, your best friend, your forever friend.” – unknown